


Sea & memories

by kingdomvel



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: :D, M/M, There's Minhyuk/Jeonghan too, i think, mermaid au, merman! kihyun, merman! wonho, oblivious hyngwon, so pure, some parts are inspired by legend of the blue sea, the others will appear eventually, wonho is a sweetheart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-06 08:05:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 34,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11032080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingdomvel/pseuds/kingdomvel
Summary: When Hyungwon decides to go back to the sea, he encounters someone that isn't quite the normal boy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So... I almost missed mermay but I managed to make it! There is a great lack of mermaid AUs in this fandom so I'll try to fix it. I have a lot of this already written so updates will be regular :)

Hyungwon was back. It had been years since he had last been here, since he had last seen the sea and smelled the salt in the air. He moved his luggage to the room he always used when he was a kid, memories of those summers spent here in his grandmother's house coming back to him. He decided to go to the store first thing and then clean up a little.

When he was 12, his grandmother had gone to a residence due to her old age and now, 8 years later she had died. Nobody had been in this house in those 8 years, not even to spend the holidays in the beach as they used to, but Hyungwon loved his grandmother a lot, and he thought that the best he could do to make her happy wherever she was, was spending the summer in her house again, just him, and his memories of her.

It didn’t take long for him to get the groceries. This was a small town and the shop was just a few minutes walk away, when he got everything he wanted he went back, filling the now empty shelves and fridge that used to be filled with his grandmother’s cooking.

He knew he had to clean a bit, prepare his room, but he found himself putting on his swimming trunks and walking to the beach, not caring about getting his other clothes out of his suitcase.

He took off his flip flops the moment he stepped in the sand, taking them in his hand. The sand was hot from being in the sun the whole day, Hyungwon awkwardly run to where it was wet and it didn’t burn his soles. Even when it was already getting late, the beach was full of people. Tourists, locals, everyone wanted to enjoy the sun, spend time with their friends.

Hyungwon never befriended anyone here, for some reason he couldn’t remember he used to spend all his evenings as a kid alone in some secret beach surrounded by rocks he had found as a kid. He remembered it being beautiful and perfectly hidden from the rest of the world but it was very lonely, now that he thought about it. He decided to go look for his beach, see if it was as beautiful as he remembered, if someone else had found it, if it was worth the afternoons alone as a kid.

It took him a while but he finally found it and it was even more beautiful then he remembered. Some plants had grown in the rocks that surrounded the little sand beach and went into the ocean, some rocks poked out of the water in the middle of the U the walls formed and Hyungwon could tell that he would be perfectly able to see the sunset when it happened in an hour.

But the best thing, was that there was no trace in the sand of another human being having found it. It was more than worth the afternoons alone and that was what Hyungwon was going to do the rest of the summer.

He took off his shirt, not wanting to wait a minute longer before getting into the water. It was not as cold as in the beach, as this was more secluded. He didn’t have to get much far from the shore for the water to reach the middle of his body. He closed his eyes and let his body float. It felt nice, letting go of all his preoccupations and just enjoy the water. After a while he opened his eyes and looked to one side.

Hyungwon tried not to drown when he saw a head peeking out of the water and looking at him, and lost all his balance while letting out a startled noise. When he finally managed to stand on his feet, he looked at the other person with a betrayed expression on his face.

Hyungwon felt his heart rushing, and not only because of the shock, the boy, now clearly one as his whole head was now out of the water, was utterly gorgeous. His hair was blonde and his eyes as blue as the sea, Hyungwon could see broad shoulders poking out from the water and his smile, god, his smile could cure all the diseases of the world.

The boy was grinning at him, clearly amused that he had scared Hyungwon.

“You scared me you know?” Hyungwon finally said, trying to appear mad at the boy but he found it impossible when he was looking at him with that smile and glint on his eyes. He seemed a bit confused but more amused than anything.

“Sorry, I’m not used to seeing people here” the boy answered, he had a weird accent, maybe he was a foreigner?

“I used to come here as a kid. I didn’t know more people came here” Hyungwon explained. For some weird reason, he found himself being completely comfortable with the other even when he was sure they hadn’t met before, he would remember, right? He was still confused as to where he had come from, he was pretty sure he wasn’t there when he arrived and he hadn’t heard anyone getting in the water.

When the blond boy heard his words, he looked at Hyungwon as if he had revealed him all the secrets of the universe to him. All the confusion from before replaced by happiness.

“You came here as a kid?” it was more like he was trying to make sure himself than asking a proper question, when Hyungwon nodded, the boy let out a small gasp, Hyungwon looked at him confused, not really understating what was going on “I’m Wonho! Nice to meet you” He looked at Hyungwon expectantly.

“I’m Hyungwon, nice to meet you too” he said hesitantly. The boy smiled as if that was the answer he was expecting to receive.

Hyungwon thought of something else to say, he was uncomfortable with the way the boy was looking at him, as if expecting something. Before he could think of something to say the light suddenly changed and Hyungwon looked at the sun as it was slowly starting to hide under the line of the sea.

“C’mon, let’s watch the sunset” he told the boy, Wonho, while turning to walk to one of the rocks in the water and sitting on it, his feet still covered by the water. Before, he would be running home so he wouldn’t be scolded by his mum for being outside till late but now, he was an adult, he could stay to watch the sunset, he could even spend the night here if he wanted to.

Wonho swam to him and looked at him hesitantly, so Hyungwon patted slightly the space right next to him in the rock. That seemed to convince the other boy because he pushed himself up to sit next to him.

Hyungwon eyed him from the corner of his eye, the boy was wearing a necklace, black with some stones and a beautiful shell hanging from it, it suited him. He must do a lot of exercise for his body to be that perfectly toned and… Hyungwon’s trail of thought cut off immediately and he looked away with his eyes full open before looking at the boy again. Yep, he had not seen wrong and something must have been wrong with his eyes not to notice before because surely, in the place where the boy’s legs should be there was a tail. A beautiful, blue tail. Hyungwon looked at the place where Wonho’s torso met his tail and nope, it was not a costume, little scales started appearing in his hips and his skin was rapidly replaced by them. Hyungwon tried not to stare at the tail, and focused again in the boy.

He was leaning back against his hands, a smile on his face while he looked at the sunset, his tail, _his tail,_ swinging back and forth in the water.

Wonho turned to look at Hyungwon with a smile on his lips, a curious look on his eyes. Hyungwon cleared his throat to get rid of the bump that had formed in it and turned to look at the sunset. Wonho let out a small chuckle.

“You can ask you know” Wonho said, Hyungwon turned to look at him again, trying to appear as if he didn’t know what he was talking about.

“What would I ask?” He said. Wonho looked down at his tail, then at Hyungwon again with an eyebrow raised. “I thought it would be rude” he mumbled.

“Would you find it rude someone asking about your… legs?” Wonho asked, Hyungwon shrugged.

“Maybe a bit weird”

“What about if _I_ asked about your legs? Would that be rude?” Wonho tilted his head while Hyungwon shook his.

“I would understand your curiosity” Wonho smiled again.

“Then you can ask!” he turned to look at the sunset again and Hyungwon did so too, soon it would be too dark to properly see the boy’s tail, and he may never see him before so he decided to screw it and ask.

“So… you are a mermaid?”

“Merman! Or siren, however you want to call me, but I’m not bad, I will not try to drown you”

“Do you know about the legends we have of you?” Wonho hummed happily.

“Yes, I once met a lovely boy that used to read me about all that stories” Hyungwon wanted to ask him more about that boy, he suddenly felt jealous but it was stupid, he had legit just met Wonho and it would be a bit egocentric to think that he was the only human he had ever met, seeing as he was so carefree about all of it. Suddenly Hyungwon was concerned about the well-being of the merman.

“Are there more like you?” he decided to ask instead. Wonho looked at him amused.

“Do I seem that lonely that you think I’m the only one of my kind? Of course there are more like me, I have parents and friends just like you do”

Hyungwon felt a bit stupid for asking that now, what did he think? That he had suddenly popped out of nowhere? The sun finally finished setting and Hyungwon took it as his cue to leave, if he waited more, he may be unable to find his way back home.

He jumped back in the water and started walking to the shore, hearing how Wonho followed him. When he got to where he had left his things he looked back. Wonho was still in the water laying in his stomach just right before where the water would stop covering him. When he saw Hyungwon put on his shirt his eyes widened in fear.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m going back home” Hyungwon answered matter of factly.

“You will come back tomorrow, right?” the was hope in his words, but fear too.

“Do you want me to come back? I don’t want to intrude in your place”

“Of course I want you to come back! This gets lonely, and this is your place too, you used to come here as a kid”

“Then I will come back tomorrow” Hyungwon smiled at the boy and finished gathering his things, turning on his phone flashlight to illuminate the way. He could see a shocked expression on Wonho’s face when he saw the sudden light, and Hyungwon couldn’t help but smile fondly at it.


	2. Chapter 2

The next afternoon Hyungwon prepared to go to his beach again. Today he had actually cleaned up and got everything out his suitcase. He didn’t really know why he was going there again, probably because he liked the place, not because of Wonho, that was for sure. At this point Hyungwon was sure that he had imagined everything, just some effects of the travel, a weird dream. There was no way he had actually met a merman.

That didn’t stop him from buying two ice creams in his way to the beach.

When he arrived to his place there was no one there, he was right, he had imagined it. He sat in a rock near the water, thinking about what was he going to do with two ice creams now.  After a while, a voice greeting him brought him back to reality and Wonho’s face appeared just in front of him.

“Hi!” he said with a big smile. Hyungwon answered it with one of his own and the merman swam to him, deciding to lean against the rock next to Hyungwon’s legs instead of getting out of the water.

Hyungwon offered him one of the ice creams. “here, try it” Wonho looked at it curiously before grabbing it and licking it. He smiled instantly and hummed happily, pleased with the taste.

“It has been too many years since I last tried one of these” Wonho said while he continued to lick his ice cream. Hyungwon looked at him with half lidded eyes.

“You tried this before?”

“Yes, the boy I know used to bring them to me, I love them” Wonho said still smiling. Hyungwon felt it again, the pang of jealousy that he didn’t have the right to feel. He had wanted to be the one to give Wonho an ice cream for the first time, it was stupid, he knew it.

“How many humans do you know?” Wonho hummed as if he was in deep thought.

“Just one” he finally said with a huge smile “the kindest, handsomest and best human that there is” Hyungwon frowned.

“How do you know he is the best if you haven't met anyone else?”

“I just know. He is better than anyone else I've met, merpeople included” They stayed in silence and Wonho finished his ice cream “C'mon” Wonho broke the silence nudging playfully Hyungwon’s legs “don't be jealous and come swim with me”

Hyungwon couldn't say no.

* * *

 

He found himself in the ice cream shop again the next day, trying to decide which flavour would Wonho like better. When he finally decided and ordered them, he was startled when someone talked to him at his back.

“Some things don’t change” Hyungwon turned to the source of the voice and saw an elderly woman sitting against the wall. He vaguely remembered her as the ice cream shop’s owner when he was younger.

“I’m sorry?” he asked, not knowing what she was talking about.

“You always used to buy two ice creams too when you were a kid” she answered with a sigh. Hyungwon looked at her confused.

“Oh really? I didn’t remember” he said sincerely. Why would he buy two ice creams when he was a child when he was always alone?

After some awkward questions about his life Hyungwon could finally collect his ice creams and went to Wonho, the merman was already in their beach when he arrived there. Hyungwon left his things on the sand before walking to the rock next to the water that he had used the previous day, Wonho swimming to him.

When he got his ice cream and tried it, he hummed happily.

“This is even better that yesterday’s, are you going to spoil me like this every day?” he said smiling at Hyungwon. the latter felt his heartbeat skipping a beat and thought that yes, if it meant that he would get to see that smile everyday then he would spoil Wonho so much.

A sudden sound made both boys look to where Hyungwon’s things were, Wonho looked startled but Hyungwon just got up with a sigh, taking his phone from the floor when he had left it. It was just a message from his friends back in Seoul, unnecessarily concerned about his well-being.

Hyungwon saw how Wonho finished his ice cream in one bite and swam to get closer to him, looking at him curiously, said boy doing the same towards the water, still looking at his phone.

“What is that?” the merman asked. Hyungwon sat down in the sand where the water covered his legs completely, so the other didn’t have to come much out of it.

“It’s my phone, look” he answered turning the phone so Wonho could see the screen. The boy gasped and took the phone from Hyungwon’s hands. “Do you know how to read Korean?” Wonho shook his head “It’s okay. Look, it you touch this, you can watch a lot of videos” Hyungwon said while opening youtube, Wonho laughed in awe and Hyungwon couldn’t help but smile fondly at the merman’s pure happiness.

Hyungwon spent the afternoon explaining how a phone worked to Wonho, who was completely amazed by it. By the end of the day, Hyungwon had his camera roll full of selcas of Wonho and him.

* * *

 

A few days later they already had a routine. In the afternoon, Hyungwon went to their beach with Wonho, always bringing something to eat so the merman could try it, and ice cream, relishing in his laugh and smile when he tried something that he liked. Then they swam together, and then Wonho played with Hyungwon’s phone while the other read. He was sure his data charge was going to be really high this month, and he got mini heart attacks whenever he got the phone too close to the water, but Wonho’s smile was worth every single won.

It was on one of those days when Hyungwon’s curiosity finally won over him.

“So… this boy you met, how was he?” he asked, trying to look as if he didn’t really care, as if he wasn’t jealous. Wonho dropped the phone in the sand where the water couldn’t reach it and looked up as if he was thinking really hard about it. He then looked at Hyungwon with a mischievous smile on his face.

“Well, you know, he is skinny, black hair, plump lips, really handsome, awesome in general” Hyungwon turned his face, not wanting to keep looking at the smile that appeared on Wonho’s face when he talked about the other man.

“If he is that awesome why is he not here with you?” he asked. He saw how Wonho’s smile fell and he felt awful for it but he couldn’t help it.

“He had to leave one day and I couldn’t go with him, I couldn’t make him stay, I didn’t find it fair to ruin his life because of me”

Hyungwon turned to Wonho again to apologize to bring up the issue but it was too late, he only saw his tail disappearing under the water, and by the time he went to the water to follow him, he had already disappeared, he couldn’t compete with the merman’s speed.

 

It was a some days later that he saw the merman again. He was sitting on their rock, looking at the pictures the merman had took of himself while smiling fondly. A part of his brain screamed that he was making a mistake, he had to leave eventually, he could not fall for the merman, but it was already too late for that.

He got startled when a face appeared in front of him, nearly dropping his phone in the water but he was able to save it the last minute.

“I’m sorry” Hyungwon and Wonho said at the same time, both boys immediately blushing and looking away.

“I shouldn’t have said it like that if he is important to you” Hyungwon started.

“It’s okay, I shouldn’t have left like that and not come back for days, and it’s okay now, you are here with me” he said with a sheepish smile. Hyungwon blushed again.

“You want some popcorn?” Hyungwon offered with a smile. He had stopped bringing two ice creams two days ago. They melted too fast.

“Always” Wonho answered fully grinning now.

* * *

 

A few days later Hyungwon was in his grandmother’s house going through some old boxes. He had started doing this a few days ago and every day he found photos of him from when he was a child, sometimes with his grandma, sometimes alone, but they always warmed his heart.

He found a box with his name on it and opened it, expecting more photos of his little self but the box was just filled with children books about mermaids. Hyungwon smiled, he didn’t remember liking mermaids that much as a child. He started taking the books out, smiling at each one. He wondered if Wonho would like them, or if he would find it funny.

He saw a single sheet in the box and took it out, it was a drawing he made when he was a kid. A merman and a human boy in it. It kind of reminded him of Wonho and him, he smiled while putting it on his bag to show Wonho later, the merman would love it.

When he looked at the box again his body and mind froze at the same time. It couldn’t be.

That afternoon he swam with Wonho like always, he waited till they were lazing in the shore, Wonho inside the water and Hyungwon outside it, getting hit by the small waves, to show Wonho the drawing.

He was stroking gently Wonho’s tail, just because, it was smooth and he loved doing it, the older man didn’t seem to mind and Hyungwon let him touch his legs in exchange. Both boys were somehow mesmerized by what they didn’t have. Wonho specially liked playing with Hyungwon’s toes, claiming that they were really cute.

He then reached out for his bag and grabbed the drawing from it to show the merman.

“What is this Hyungwonnie?” he asked curiously. Hyungwon tried not to die at the nickname.

“A drawing I did when I was little” Hyungwon answered. Wonho took the drawing in his hands gasping.

“This so cute!”

“Yeah, I thought so too"

"We were really destined to meet huh? You didn't tell me you liked mermaids that much"

"I didn't remember. Don’t you think they look like us?” Wonho stopped smiling and let out a nervous laugh.

“What are you saying? I'm way more handsome”

“Do we know each other Wonho?” Hyungwon asked, not wanting to wait more to address his thoughts. Wonho froze again.

“Of course, we’ve been hanging out all summer”

“I mean before this summer, did we know each other before?”

“Are you saying that because of this? It’s just a drawing Hyungwon” Said boy reached for his bag again and got out another thing. The thing that he had found in the box earlier. Wonho’s face went white when he saw it.

“I thought you had thrown it away” he whispered. Hyungwon looked at the necklace in his hand, the one that was completely identical to the one Wonho was wearing.

“Please Wonho, explain to me why I had this, why I don’t remember anything about you”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! Kudos and comments are very appreciated, also, hmu in tumblr with he same name :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ALMOST FORGOT TO UPDATE THIS ALSO MY BOI WONHO WITH DARK HAIR AND MY BOI MINHYUK WITH LIGHT HAIR AGAIN LET ME DIE IN PEACE

Hyungwon was a kid, but he didn’t think he was one. In his eyes, he was an adventurer and as one, he obviously had to go on adventures. So he set off, telling his grandma that he was going out, and started exploring. He didn’t like the beach where there was a lot of people but he liked the sea so he started looking for some place without people, just for him.

It was a few hours later, when he was already tired and thinking about going back home when he found it. A little beach surrounded by rocks, hidden from the rest of the world.

He was happy with his discovery, at last he was going to have a place just for himself to play. Suddenly he heard a gasp and water splashing. When he turned to look at the source, he saw how a head peeped out from behind a rock in the middle of the water.

It looked like another kid, maybe older than him but not much. Maybe it was another explorer. Hyungwon waved his hand happily. But the other boy just hided again behind the rock scared. Soon getting out from behind it to look at Hyungwon again.

“Hi! I’m Hyungwon! What’s your name?” he asked happily. The boy looked at him with confusion on his face so Hyungwon thought that maybe he was not Korean, at least he had never seen a Korean kid his age with their hair that blond.

The boy slowly showed more of himself.

“I’m… Wonho” he replied slowly, with care.

“You do know Korean!” Wonho nodded energetically “Are you an explorer too?”

“An explorer?”

“Yes! Discovering new places and going on adventures”

“Oh! Yeah, I like that!”

“Then we can be friends”

“Friends? You mean it?” Wonho asked, in his excitement from making a friend he swam to Hyungwon, getting out from behind the rock. The boy gasped while opening his eyes wide. Wonho looked scared from a moment.

“You have a tail!” Hyungwon exclaimed, Wonho was ready to swim away when he continued speaking “that’s so cool, I have a mermaid friend” Wonho smiled brightly at his words, he had expected the other to be scared or weirded out. It was his first time seeing a human up close and he couldn’t help but be curious and a bit scared too. Far from what Wonho thought, Hyungwon seemed completely awed with Wonho.

They came closer to one another, slowly, as if not to scare the other. When they were close enough, Hyungwon couldn’t stop admiring the merman’s tail, how it curved and shined.

“Can I touch it?” he asked without much thought. Wonho laughed lightly making the other boy blush at his question. “Sorry”

“It’s okay, you can touch it if I can touch your legs” Hyungwon grinned while letting go of all his things to get into the water.

“Done!” he shouted, both boys now laughing happily.

And so, their friendship started.

Every summer, Hyungwon would go back to his grandmother’s house to spend the vacations and everyday he would go to their beach with Wonho, both boys learning things from each other’s worlds, crying when the summer ended and Hyungwon had to leave to his house.

Every time Hyungwon came back he did with more and more books about mermaids and sirens, and he read them with Wonho, both boys laughing about what they said. They grew up together, they saw the changes in each other from summer to summer. Wonho listened to Hyungwon’s stories about his school and friends and couldn’t help the sadness that came with the thought of Hyungwon having a whole life apart from him, sure, he had friends too, other sirens, but it didn’t compare with the life Hyungwon had.

Wonho was the older of the two, and the first one to fall in love.

It happened when Wonho was 14, Hyungwon 12 that summer and it was fine, Wonho thought, even if the other boy didn’t love him back, it was fine, they were young and didn’t know what it really meant. Maybe when they grew older Hyungwon would love him too and in the meantime, they could just continue spending their summers together while growing up. They could figure things out in the future.

But the bad news came. It was at the end of that summer when Hyungwon suddenly came to their beach while crying his eyes out. It was not weird for them to cry on the last days of summer, the thought of being apart for months was just too much for both of them. But then Hyungwon entered the water and hugged Wonho, and the older knew there was something else about it.

“I’m leaving” Hyungwon managed to say between sobs.

“I know, you always leave Hyungwonnie” Wonho said, trying to soothe the boy while crying himself, just from watching his friend like that.

“But this time is different. My parents said that grandma is too old, and that she is going to go to a residence in Seoul near us. I’m not going to come back.” Wonho felt all his world breaking around him when he heard the words coming out of Hyungwon, the only thing that he seemed to be able to do was hug Hyungwon closer, trying to find something to keep his life from crumbling down, trying to catch his breath. “Maybe… maybe I can make my parents rethink it, maybe we can move here with grandma…”

“Hyungwonnie… you have friends, you can’t leave them”

“I don’t care about my friends, I want to just want to stay here with you” Both boys hugged even harder if that was possible, and in that moment, Wonho made up his mind.

* * *

 

“I couldn’t let you ruin your life because of me, you had to go back to your school with your friends and we both knew that I couldn’t go with you… so I did something I had just heard my parents talk about before. I removed your memories of me so you didn’t feel guilty for leaving me behind.” Wonho blushed slightly at the memory, because to do it he had to kiss Hyungwon and it felt so good and bad at the same time.

He looked up to see Hyungwon crying, because even when he knew that everything the older had said (leaving untold that he was in love with the human) was true, he still couldn’t remember any of it. But he felt sadness in behalf of his 12-year-old self, that had lost his best friend without even knowing about it.

“You made me forget all about you?” Hyungwon finally said.

“I’m sorry, it felt like the best thing to do”

“But…” Hyungwon at least looked up to look at Wonho again “but you still remembered, didn’t it hurt?” Wonho looked away “it did, didn’t it? Staying here alone while I didn’t remember you…”

Wonho looked at him with glassy, pleading eyes, he didn’t want to be reminded of that time, it hurt too much “Hyungwon stop, it’s okay now”

Hyungwon got closer to Wonho, hugging him tightly, it was uncomfortable, both boys sitting in the sand while they were covered by the water but it still felt good. Made them feel whole.

“I’m sorry” Hyungwon said in the merman’s ear. “I’m sorry for forgetting you and never coming back.”

“It wasn’t your fault, I made you do it. And you have come back, I thought you never would”

They stayed hugging for minutes, Hyungwon could now understand why he came here as a kid, why he bought two ice creams, why he felt so comfortable with Wonho even when he had just met him, why he loved him so much even when he had only known him for weeks… everything made sense now.

“You can make up to me with food” Wonho suddenly said, making both boys pull apart to laugh their lungs out.

They continued with their routine, the only things that changed were that now Hyungwon made Wonho tell him all the stories of when they were children because “if you can’t give me back my memories at least you can tell me yours” and the necklace that was now securely tied around Hyungwon’s neck.

The time passed and both boys tried to ignore what it meant, but as much as you ignored it, it didn’t mean that the days weren’t getting shorter and the water colder.

“The summer is ending” Wonho said one afternoon. They were lying together in the water, Hyungwon with his legs wrapped around Wonho’s tail. Wonho, for some reason, never left the water.

Ever since Hyungwon had learned about their past together, they had become closer and Hyungwon welcomed every single moment he could spend cuddling the older. He couldn’t remember if his past self had fallen for the merman, how he had felt about him but he surely knew that his present self was very much in love with him and he didn’t want to let him go again.

He didn’t think he would be that clingy but apparently, he was. Hyungwon looked at Wonho surprised, he thought that he would be the one to bring up the subject but as always, Wonho was one step ahead.

“Yeah” Hyungwon mumbled. “I don’t want to leave you again” Wonho didn’t answer immediately so Hyungwon pulled apart to look at the other, he was biting his lip deep in thought.

“You don’t have to” he said. Hyungwon looked at him confused “you don’t remember me telling you but… we” he said signalling to his tail “when we become adults, we get the ability to turn into humans when we get out of the water. My parents used to say that humans are just merpeople that had lost the ability to turn back.” Hyungwon looked at him in awe, hope filling his chest.

“Wonho but that is awesome, you can come live with me, we can be together and…” he got interrupted by a hand in his mouth.

“Wait, there is something else, I need to turn back every few days or… some say you start dying, other’s say you can never turn back… for me is the same thing.”

“Would a bathtub work?” Wonho looked at him confused “You know, a big thing that you fill with water and get into” Wonho shrugged.

“I guess so... but”

“You don’t want to leave your parents? It is forbidden to go out or something like that?” Wonho glared at Hyungwon for interrupting him. Inside he was smiling at himself at his excitement, he hadn’t heard him talk this excitedly since they were kids. Hyungwon got the message and shut up.

“No, it’s okay, I haven’t seen my parents in days, we don’t have the same relationship with our parents like you do, and I could always come back, to visit, leaving with a human is not seen as a bad thing as it’s practically the only option you have when…” he stopped, he didn’t want to say it like that, _when you fall in love with one_. He shook his head. “but I’m scared. I’ve never left the water and you have told me about how you have to work and study and I can’t do that. There is so many people, so many weird things that I don’t know…”

“It’s okay, I will take care of both of us. Don’t you want to explore the land?” Hyungwon said with a smile. Wonho answered to it grinning, of course he wanted to, he had always dreamed of knowing the how the place where Hyungwon lived was first hand.

“Everything will be fine?” he asked.

“Everything will be fine” Hyungwon assured him. “Then do you want to turn?” Wonho looked at him surprised.

“What? Now?”

“Well, maybe not know, but tomorrow? I will find you clothes and we can go to the town to eat ice cream”

Hyungwon thought that if Wonho continued smiling like that maybe he would go blind, it was too bright.


	4. Chapter 4

When Hyungwon arrived to their place the next day Wonho was singing. He was actually singing, the sound filling the place and Hyungwon’s head, who instantly felt captivated by it. He suddenly remembered all the stories of sailors who were lead to their dead by the voice of sirens and he understood it. Not because he felt like there was something magical that made him want to go to the water but if all the sirens were half as beautiful and sang half as good as Wonho then he understood the need to get closer.

Wonho did it sometimes, singing. It always reminded Hyungwon of how different they really were, and while he loved it, he couldn’t help but hate it for that reason. He stopped for a bit, watching Wonho sing sitting on top of a rock in the middle of the water, his tail splashing inside it.

A few minutes later Hyungwon finally greeted the merman, letting his bag drop in the sand. Wonho immediately turned around and flashed him a smile before getting into the water and swimming to him.

“Excited for today?” Hyungwon asked.

“Excited? I couldn’t sleep! This is going to be so cool” Hyungwon laughed at the boy’s enthusiasm.

“Well, I brought you clothes, I hope you like them.”

“I sure will”

They stayed looking at each other until Hyungwon broke the silence.

“Then, are you going to do it? Do you need something? Want me to turn around?”

“Oh! Yeah, I… well I…” Wonho bit his lip nervously and avoided Hyungwon’s gaze “I need something more”

“Just say it and I will give it to you”

“I need a kiss. From a human”

“Oh” Hyungwon looked at him puzzled.

“Yeah oh” Wonho continued avoiding his gaze and Hyungwon crouched down to be at the same height as the older. He cupped one of his cheeks with his hand and watched how Wonho closed his eyes in anticipation.

“Do you mean like this?” Hyungwon asked while leaning forward and kissing Wonho’s cheek lightly. The merman opened his eyes and looked at him incredulous, almost offended. He was going to protest when Hyungwon snickered “It was a joke” he mumbled before finally, finally, closing the distance between them.

Their lips pressed together and Hyungwon closed his eyes to enjoy it better. He could taste the sea in the merman’s lips, it was the best taste ever and the warm feeling that spread in his chest was enough to make his heart jump in happiness. He felt how Wonho shifted to get out of the water and helped him without opening his eyes. He wanted to continue kissing the merman, to continue tasting him, to deepen the kiss but Wonho suddenly gasped and pulled out of the kiss.

Hyungwon stayed with his eyes closed and his hand hanging where the older’s face had been before, and he was really close to whining at the loss of the feeling when Wonho talked.

“Oh wow, I knew about the legs but what is this?”

Hyungwon furrowed his brows until it hit him. Wonho was actually naked now and… he opened his eyes. Yep, he was looking at his dick. Hyungwon adverted his gaze and grabbed the clothes he had brought to him, handing them without looking again.

“Put this on” Wonho took the clothes.

“Okay, but what is this Hyungwonnie? You have never told me anything about this”

“I will explain to you but put your clothes on first”

“Do you have one too? I don’t understand what you humans have with wearing clothes all the time.”

“Yes, I have one too but _please_ Wonho put the clothes on”

“Okay okay” After some failed attempts Wonho finally managed to put his clothes on and God, why did Hyungwon think it was okay to bring the merman a sleeveless top with the arm holes so big you could almost see him whole and some shorts? Right, he thought that it was best to bring that kind of clothes so the merman didn’t feel suffocated but even when he saw him every day shirtless, those clothes still made Hyungwon feel lost.

He didn’t know what he was expecting but it was _not_ thighs that muscled.

“I already put all on, now will you explain what that is?”

“It’s a human organ. For peeing” Hyungwon said, he was completely red, he didn’t want to have this conversation.

“For peeing? And why do you hide it? Doesn’t everyone have it?” Wonho said confused and slightly amused at the younger’s sudden shyness.

“Well not everyone, some people don’t.” he really didn’t want to have this kind of conversation “And it’s polite to wear clothes when you are with others, even your clothes right now are too revealing for some people” Wonho smirked at that.

“Did you want to enjoy the view Hyungwonnie?” He laughed when Hyungwon covered his face, getting even redder embarrassed.

When Wonho stopped laughing he stared at his legs again in awe. Stroking them with his hands.

“I have legs” Hyungwon reached out to touch Wonho’s legs too and he grinned at him excitedly.

“Yes, you do.”

“I can’t believe it”

“Neither can I. Do you think you can walk? I will help you”

Hyungwon got up and helped the older do so as well, he was insecure standing up. He couldn’t really find the equilibrium. Hyungwon let out a small snicker.

“Hey, don’t laugh at me, it’s the first time I do this” Wonho pouted.

“It’s not that, it’s just that it’s cute that you are shorter than me” Wonho looked at him confused.

“Shorter?”

“Yeah, and I’m taller, it’s cute”

Wonho had to lean against Hyungwon and grab him to be able to just stand up, and after a few attempts at walking, he finally managed to take a few steps, but he soon lost his balance and had to grab Hyungwon again.

“Maybe today we should just focus in learning to walk and go to town tomorrow.” Hyungwon proposed. Wonho looked at him betrayed.

“You promised to take me to eat ice cream, you can’t take it back now” Hyungwon laughed softly.

“Okay” he finally agreed with a soft smile.

After a few more attempts and some falls, both boys found it safe to go out already. Hyungwon helped Wonho go through the rocks and they walked with their arms around each other so Wonho had something to lean into.

When they arrived to the town Wonho gasped, looking at everything in awe with a smile on his face. Hyungwon just smiled at him, not tearing his gaze from the older’s face. He was too beautiful and happy to do so. Hyungwon knew that if Wonho could, he would have already run off to see everything on his own. He had gotten much better at walking on his way here but still, it wasn’t enough. Wonho suddenly let out a small shriek and pointed at something.

“Hyungwon look! It’s one of those things from the internet!” he exclaimed. Hyungwon looked at what he was pointing and laughed softly.

“That’s a cat Wonho, a cat”

“Can we have one?” the older asked looking at Hyungwon with hope in his eyes. And he couldn’t refuse when he was looking at him like that.

“Maybe, we’ll see” Wonho smiled brightly and continued looking around him curiously. Hyungwon pulled him with him.

“C’mon, the ice cream shop is this way”

When they arrived, behind the counter was the same girl that sold Hyungwon his ice creams every day, she was around their age, the granddaughter of the grandma that owned the shop.

“Hey Hyungwon!” she greeted, they had somehow forged a friendship over him coming for ice cream “I thought you weren’t going to come today as it is latter than usual…” She stopped when she saw Wonho. This was not a big town, and basically everyone knew each other, so seeing someone she didn’t know was definitely a shock. More so if that someone was like Wonho.

The boy smiled at her and waved his hand, the girl answering it a bit confused. They walked to the counter together, Wonho smiling at the big variety of flavours.

“Hey Jiwon. Which do you want?” Hyungwon asked Wonho, who instantly pointed to one bright pink.

“That one” he said before he spotted someone with a dog at the side of the shop and awkwardly walked to it, sitting on the floor to play with it.

Hyungwon sighed “you heard him” he told the girl. She snapped out of her thoughts and started preparing the ice cream.

“Is he the one you always buy ice cream for?” she asked curiously.

“Yeah” Hyungwon answered not really paying attention. Most of it was in watching Wonho, who was now with the big dog standing on his lap, his face scrunched, laughing while the dog licked all over it. _Gross_. He barely registered that the girl had asked him something, tearing his gaze from the guy and looking at her apologetically. She was looking at him with a knowing smile.

“I asked which one do you want” she said.

“Sorry, vanilla is fine for me” Hyungwon answered while pulling out the money to pay. He left the notes on the counter and reached out to grab the ice creams. Jiwon leaned forward.

“Say, Hyungwon. Where did you find him?” she asked directing a not so subtle look at Wonho.

“I met him in the beach” Hyungwon answered, not lying.

“How have I never see him before?” she seemed almost disappointed in herself.

“Well… he hardly ever comes out, so maybe that’s why” Hyungwon answered. He didn’t really want to give away anything. Or lie. “Hey Wonho, let’s go already” he said loud enough so that the other heard him. He did and after struggling a bit with standing up, he walked the few steps that separated him from Hyungwon, he was quickly getting used to walking. He took his ice cream with one hand and the younger’s now free one with other one.

“Hey Hyungwon, can we have one of those too?” he asked with a smile.

“A dog? We can’t have every kind of animal Wonho” Hyungwon answered, the older pouted a bit, and Hyungwon really wanted to kiss that pout, instead he turned to look at Jiwon who was already looking at them with her eyebrows raised in question and a grin on her face. “He wants a cat too” Hyungwon dumbly blurted out.

He said goodbye and tugged Wonho’s hand to make him follow him, the boy waving his other hand, ice cream included, to the girl behind the counter.

“Enjoy you date!” she shouted making Hyungwon blush. But he didn’t correct her.

They walked around town, their hands clasped together securely, Hyungwon showing Wonho every single detail, the older’s eyes sparkling in awe every time he saw any mundane thing that he found fascinating. While Wonho enjoyed looking at the world, Hyungwon enjoyed looking at Wonho. He was almost hit by a car when he tried to cross a street without looking, Hyungwon getting a small heart attack and deciding to not let go of his hand ever again. When the evening finally started coming to its end, they went to a viewpoint in the highest part of the town where you could see the entire town and the sea right behind it. The sun going down quickly.

“This is so amazing, I have to convince Kihyun to come out here” Wonho said dreamily while leaning on the railing. Kihyun, Hyungwon had learned, was Wonho’s best friend.

“Well, I’m not going to kiss him” Hyungwon said while taking the spot next to him. Wonho looked at him confused.

“Why would you kiss him?” he asked.

“You know, so that he can change” Hyungwon answered, for some reason he was feeling very stupid now. Wonho laughed.

“Actually… I didn’t really need a kiss” Wonho said, Hyungwon was going to protest but he was faster “but I wanted one. It was pretty funny how you bought it right away”

“You are so…” Hyungwon couldn’t really protest, he had enjoyed the kiss after all.

“So what?”

“Never mind” they stayed in silence, looking at the sunset as they did every day from their beach.

“Do you know why leaving to land with a human is not seen as something bad?” Wonho suddenly asked. Hyungwon hummed to tell him to continue. “merpeople can only fall in love once, and when we do, we never fall out of it. It is the most normal thing to leave everyone for the one you love. Even if they are human” Hyungwon felt his breath catching on his throat, the implications of what the older was saying filling his head but it couldn’t be because…

“Then, the perfect boy you are always talking about…” he was interrupted by Wonho’s laugh, and him smacking him lightly on his arm.

“It was you all the time idiot! I had never met any other human than you before today” he said, Hyungwon turned to look at him, he allowed hope to fill him while he looked at the older’s eyes.

“So, you are coming with me because you love me?” Wonho nodded while smiling and Hyungwon couldn’t hold it any more, he held the shorter’s face between his hands and kissed him. Passionately, lovingly. He could still taste the sea in his lips, and the ice cream he had ate earlier.

When he thought about the ice cream he suddenly pulled away with a disgusted look on his face. Wonho looked at him worried.

“Why did you stop?” he asked.

“I just remembered the dog licking all over your face and that’s just disgusting” Hyungwon answered crunching his nose. Wonho laughed and pulled him in to another kiss ignoring the boy’s protests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yeah. Let me know what you think in the comments, even if I don't repply I appreciate them so much. Thank you all for reading! :)


	5. Chapter 5

Wonho was bouncing on the passenger seat looking like an excited puppy. Hyungwon looked at him briefly, smiling before returning his gaze to the road ahead him.

They had left the beach a few hours ago, just like all the other days since their first escapade to the town, every day since then they went to explore the town, Hyungwon showing Wonho every single detail from his wold. But this time, they were not going back. Not for some time at least.

A few days ago they had gone shopping to buy Wonho some clothes and that morning they had packed them in Hyungwon’s suitcases along with his things.

Now they were on the road, making their way to Seoul to Hyungwon’s apartment, and the boy would lie if he said that he wasn’t nervous. Sure, Wonho was getting easily used to the life outside, but now they were going to Seoul, and it was so big, so full of people, and Wonho too trusting, and Hyungwon had to actually go to work so he couldn’t be with him all the time, and God, he didn’t even have a bathtub in his home for Wonho to use.

He felt a hand against his on the wheel and he looked to the side to see Wonho smiling at him, he had felt his nervousness, he just wanted to let him know that everything was going to be okay. He smiled back at him and retuned his gaze to the road. He was going to trust the older boy.

The moment they arrived and were surrounded by skyscrapers and the traffic, Wonho pressed his head to the window to see everything better, the only thing stopping him from sticking his head out was Hyungwon’s warning that it was too dangerous to do so. He pointed at everything, amazed by the size of the city. This was nothing like their town, small and familiar, this was a whole new experience that even amazed lots of humans.

They arrived at the building and Hyungwon parked on the garage. Wonho happy on the way up on the lift to Hyungwon’s floor. Fortunately, Wonho loved the apartment, the small kitchen, the comfy sofa and the bedroom they were going to share. Hyungwon swore he heard Wonho whisper a “nope, I think the fuck not” before getting away from the small balcony after looking down curiously from it.

They still had a long time to spare before dinner but they didn’t go anywhere. Instead, they settled down, putting their clothes in the wardrobe. They decided to just cuddle in the sofa afterwards and watch dramas and Hyungwon didn’t actually like the idea that they were going to be interrupted soon but he had actually invited his friends to dinner because one: they had been really annoying the whole summer about him ignoring them all the time, and two: he actually had a favour to ask them.

Not much time later, Hyungwon’s phone rang on the coffee table. His mother was calling, and he had to take that call. He groaned annoyed and got out of his spot partially under Wonho, the other boy not looking away from the TV screen.

“I have to talk to my mother, if the doorbell rings, get the door. You know if something goes dingdong or knock knock, then open the front door” he said while taking his phone. Now, Wonho looked at him, but as if he was stupid.

“Hyungwon, I think we have watched enough dramas for me to know what a doorbell is” he deadpanned. Hyungwon snickered.

“Right, I’ll be right back” he said before giving him a soft peck on the lips before getting into his room.

A few minutes passed before the doorbell rang. Wonho looked at the door, then at the Tv, then at the door again. The episode was going to end soon so it meant that something was going to happen but… He sighed and got up from the sofa, not wasting any time in opening the door. At the other side there were two boys, one tall with broad shoulders and the other not so, but pretty, both of them looking at him with shocked expressions on their faces.

“Hi! Hyungwon is in his room” Wonho said before going back to the couch. Just as he had predicted, the thing happened and the episode ended, which meant he had already turned off the TV by the time the other boys made it to the living room.

They looked at him confused, the pretty boy was the first one to speak.

“Hi, we are Minhyuk and Shownu and you are…?” he said pointing at himself and the other boy respectively.

“Oh, I’m Wonho, Hyungwon’s boyfriend” he said with a grin. The pretty boy, Minhyuk, actually gasped, his eyes wide open, before shouting a “HIS WHAT” while the other looked at him raising his eyebrows and opening his eyed wide. Wonho just laughed at them.

Hyungwon chose that moment to exit his room and was instantly attacked by Minhyuk hugging him.

“Hey, I see you’ve met Wonho” Hyungwon said, Minhyuk actually pulled out to smack him on his chest.

“You! You didn’t tell us anything, is he the reason you didn’t answer to any of our texts? I don’t really blame you because hot DAMN you did well Hyungwon but really? You go to your grandma’s house for the summer and come back with a boyfriend? And he is going to live with you or something like that?” Hyungwon laughed and looked at the merman, he was smiling, Minhyuk’s compliment getting to him.

“Yeah, he’s going to live with me, he doesn’t really have somewhere to stay and I wouldn’t like him anywhere else” Hyungwon and Wonho looked at each other smiling and Minhyuk made gagging noises even when he was smiling too.

“Oh my god you are both so cheesy, do we have to put up with that from now on?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so” Hyungwon answered.

They sat down on the sofa, Hyungwon and Wonho practically on each other while the others took their places next to them.

“So how did you meet?” Shownu asked. Before Wonho could speak up, Hyungwon started explaining.

“We met at the beach, we were actually childhood friends so it was not difficult to click together. But, Shownu-hyung, how is the team doing?” Hyungwon tried to change the topic of the conversation.

“Pretty good, we got into the finals”

“Shownu here is the best swimmer in the world!” Minhyuk added excitedly. Wonho’s attention perked up at that.

“Oh! I swim too!” He said with a smile.

“Really? You could come to the pool one day if you want and we can compete” Shownu offered.

“That would be awe…”

“NO” Wonho was interrupted by Hyungwon, and he shoot him a confused look “I mean… that would be a bit weird, Wonho doesn’t really swim he… dives, yeah, the kind in which you don’t use any equipment” everyone was looking at him weirdly now.

“Oh really? That’s pretty cool too” Shownu said while nodding, Hyungwon nodded too, until he remembered he had something to ask them.

“Guys, I actually have to ask you something, you have bathtub in your flat, right?”

“Yeah we do, why?” Minhyuk answered.

“Wonho really likes taking baths but I only have a shower but I was wondering… If you wouldn’t mind him going every few days to yours to take one, I can pay for some of the water bill if it goes too up”

“Anything for your boyfriend” Minhyuk said while smiling, Wonho smiled back at him.

They heard the door opening and moments later Changkyun appeared on the living room.

“Guys, I just heard the best joke ever”

“Wait, how did you get in?” Hyungwon asked, Changkyun shrugged.

“The door wasn’t locked. Now the joke” before he could start Jooheon appeared behind him and spoke first.

“Who is that?” he asked looking at Wonho.

“Hyungwon’s boyfriend” Minhyuk answered.

“WHAT” He looked at Wonho with his eyes fully opened, a incredulous expression on his face.

“I KNOW” Minhyuk squealed in excitement.

“GUYS” Changkyun interrupted them before they started screaming. They all shut up and looked at him.

“Okay Changkyun, you can tell your joke now” Shownu said.

“Thanks. So there are two sailors who are fishing and when they get the net on the boat they see, among all the fish a mermaid. Fair skin, pretty, good tits…” Hyungwon looks at Wonho who is looking curiously at Changkyun, completely immersed in the joke “so fisherman 1 looks at her up and down, then up and down again, and then he throws her back to the sea and fisherman 2 is like but WHY and the first is like but HOW?” Minhyuk actually cracks up and falls from the sofa from laugher and Shownu snickers. Hyungwon tries not to laugh too much while Wonho just looks at them all confused.

“I don’t get it” he just says, Changkyun looks at him.

“You know, if she had a tail and no legs how do you fuc-“

“HEY” Hyungwon interrupts him “how about we order pizza?” the cheers form the others successfully making the topic of the conversation change.

He got up without looking at Wonho and walked to the kitchen to order the pizzas. When he was done and turned to the door he got surprised when he saw Wonho waiting for him leaning on the door.

“Why did you do that?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“You know what I’m talking about. I honestly don’t know what is wrong with one of your friends explaining a joke to me”

“It’s nothing really, I will explain it to you some time” Hyungwon did NOT want to explain a sex joke to Wonho. He got closer to the blond boy and hugged him.

“I like your friends” Wonho said. Hyungwon smiled into his hair.

“Are you going to be like that all the time now? Because excuse me while I go puke” A deep voice reached them. Hyungwon looked up to see Changkyun looking at them and stretched out his arm to hit him the best he could.

 

When Hyungwon entered his room later that night, he was met with the sight of Wonho already tucked in the bed.

“How’s your first experience with a human bed?” he asked, smiling at the boy.

“It’s really comfy, now I get why you said that you never want to get out. But it would be better if you were her with me” Wonho answered grinning.

“Smooth”

“What?”

“Never mind” Hyungwon shook his head and walked to the bed, lifting the sheets before lying down. Wonho instantly scooted closer to him to hug him.

“I still can’t believe that I’m here, with legs, in a bed, with you” he whispered.

“But it’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“It’s the best”

That day, for the first time, but not the last, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

* * *

 

Wonho stared at the door in front of him nervously, he didn’t really know why he was nervous, when he met Minhyuk and Shownu two days ago everything went fine. And this was something he had to do, and wanted to. I had been just two days since he had arrived to Seoul and as Hyungwon was working and he was deadly bored, he decided to go take a bath. Shownu and Minhyuk only lived a few floors down so Wonho thought that Hyungwon wouldn’t mind him going out without telling him.

He rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door. After a minute Wonho started thinking that maybe he should have said something before, but they said that any time is fine, but what if they weren’t home at the moment? Minhyuk opened the door when he was just about to walk back upstairs, immediately welcoming him with a bright smile.

“Oh hey, you wanted something?” Wonho smiled back at him.

“Well… Hyungwon is not home and I was a bit bored so I wondered if I could… use the bathroom?”

“Oh! Yes of course. Shownu is not home either so it’s just you and me at the moment” He stepped aside to let Wonho enter the apartment, he was stopped before going too far by Minhyuk “Hey, your shoes” Wonho looked at him and then at his feet.

“Oh right” he said stepping out of them and putting them on one side, just as he had seen Hyungwon and the others doing.

They walked to the living room.

“Take a sit while the bathtub fills, do you want something?” Minhyuk asked. Wonho shook his head and sat down, looking how Minhyuk disappeared into what he assumed to be the bathroom before coming again and sitting next to him.

“So… Now that we are alone you can tell me more about your relationship with Hyungwon, it was about time that one of us got a boyfriend”

“Wait, so aren’t you and Shownu together?” Minhyuk actually laughed at that.

“Nope, just flatmates. I think Shownu is so in love with the water and swimming that he can’t see anyone that way” Wonho let out a small surprised noise, he really thought they were together “Now… you and Hyungwon, who confessed first?”

“I did. More or less.”

“I knew Hyungwon wouldn’t have the guts to do it! So… have you done it already?”

“Do what?”

“You know… Wait, I think the water is ready, we can talk later”

“Oh okay”

Minhyuk guided him to the bathroom and went out after showing him where shower gel and shampoo were, closing the door after him.

Wonho stripped out of his clothes and carefully entered the bathtub, his legs turning almost instantly into a tail, making him fall on, what would be, his butt. He let out a small groan.

“Are you okay?” Minhyuk asked from somewhere at the other side of the door.

“Yes! Just slipped a bit” he answered.

He looked curiously at all the bottles resting on the side of the bathtub and reached out for one. It smelled good, so he poured a bit in the water. When nothing happened, he furrowed his brows and started moving his hand, making foam appear on top of the water. He let out a pleased sound and giggled while blowing at it.

“I’ve just realised that you don’t have a towel so I’ve brought you a clean one, I promise I won’t loo-“ Minhyuk didn’t even finish the word when he opened the door to the bathroom and saw the merman’s tail splashing in his bathtub. “Oh” was the only thing that he managed to let out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone says anything... yes I know the joke is awful but it's spanish and I had to translate it the best I could... If anyone knows spanish in the original the sailors go "por que?" "por donde?" and I think its more funny... sorry
> 
> Everyone! support monsta x's comeback the best you can, it's amazing and thank you all for liking this <3


	6. Chapter 6

Hyungwon arrived at an empty apartment. He had expected Wonho to be waiting for him, to go greet him the moment he opened the door. But instead of the older’s smile and voice he was met with silence, the TV turned off, no traces of anyone there. It was as if the merman’s presence had never existed in the first place, that everything had been a dream, an illusion.

For a moment, he panicked. Thinking that maybe Wonho had left but it was stupid, he didn’t know the way and he just wouldn’t leave him. Not like that.

His next thought brought him back outside the apartment and down the stairs.

When he reached Shownu’s and Minhyuk’s apartment he opened the door with the spare key that he had, just in case. He was instantly met with sounds of people laughing, two laughs that he would recognise anywhere, Minhyuk and Wonho, and the sound of… was that water? Hyungwon ran, actually ran to the bathroom and nothing would prepare him for the sight he was met with.

Wonho was in the bathtub, full merman mode, nothing he hadn’t seen before, everything filled with bubbles and foam, and it would be okay if it wasn’t for the very naked Minhyuk that was in the bathtub with him, nothing that he hadn’t seen before either but he preferred not to think about that now. Wonho saw him while he was laughing at something that Minhyuk was doing and his face split into a huge grin, happiness beaming through him.

“Oh Hyungwon, you are back” he greeted him, Minhyuk turned to him and smiled too.

“Hey Hyungwon”

The boy got out of his stupor only to have a dark feeling spreading on his chest.

“Minhyuk. Out. Now”

“But…”

“Now” Minhyuk pouted and started getting out “I will wait in the living room”

Hyungwon walked to the living room and dropped on the couch. He put his face in his hands. He didn’t want to be mad at Minhyuk and Wonho but he was. Mad and afraid. He felt someone sitting down next to him.

“Why are you so angry?” Hyungwon turned around to see Minhyuk, now with clothes on, looking ahead while pouting slightly.

“You were in the bath with him. Naked”

“In my defence, I will say that you say it like you and I haven’t showered or bather together before AND” he raised his voice when he saw that Hyungwon wanted to talk so he didn’t interrupt him “he didn’t really mind that I was naked, he said that I shouldn’t wet my clothes. I also find quite weird that you don’t comment anything in the fact that I’ve just seen your boyfriend with a fucking tail, you knew right?”

“Of course I knew, where did you think I found him?”

“Well, Wonho has already told me everything” Minhyuk said smiling. Hyungwon groaned and put his face back into his hands, Minhyuk put a hand on his back “Hey, really what is so wrong?”

“I’m afraid he will realise I’m not the best human out there” he confessed, he always shared everything with Minhyuk and that wasn’t going to change now.

“Oh c’mon. He is so obviously in love with you, and you know that that didn’t mean anything for us further than just some friend fun, right?” Hyungwon didn’t answer Minhyuk got his face closer to his “RIGHT?” he repeated.

“Yeah, I do”

“Cool, now stop being a jealous idiot”

“I can’t really help it”

“Yes you can, just trust him”

They both looked up at the same time when they heard the door of the bathroom opening, Wonho walking out cautiously with his hair still wet.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“No! Just…” Hyungwon tried to find the words “Don’t go around revealing to everyone who you really are”

“But Minhyuk is your friend, and mine, we can trust him”

“And don’t take baths with other people naked” Hyungwon continued without listening to him, the two other boys raised their eyebrows “okay, you can if they are trustworthy like Minhyuk, just… don’t fall for them” Wonho let out a laugh.

“Was that really what you were worried about? I already told you we only fall once, I should be more worried about you falling for someone else, humans are not to be trusted, or at least Kihyun says so, but he wouldn’t know, he has never actually met one” the human boys watched him rant a bit until he stopped and Minhyuk turned to look at Hyungwon again.

“Sorry for being a jealous idiot?” Hyungwon tried, the other two boys smiling at him.

“I forgive you” Minhyuk answered. Hyungwon protested and hit him with a cushion while Wonho laughed happily at them.

 

“Did you like the bath?” Hyungwon asked later that day, when they were lying on bed, cuddling.

“It was nice, the water smelled good and was very relaxing, I wish I could swim though” Hyungwon tried to ignore the pain that constricted his chest when he thought that he was the one that kept Wonho away from what he loved most.

“Isn’t putting things into the water poisonous or something?” Wonho giggled at that.

“It’s not like I breath with my tail you know, and it’s actually very pleasant, I like it”

When Hyungwon returned from work the next day he did so with every product Lush had to offer, his wallet empty, but his chest full at the sight of the smile Wonho blessed him with.

 

* * *

 

 

Wonho was sitting on Minhyuk’s couch, waiting for him to finish making popcorn and join him. They did this every afternoon. Minhyuk was the only one of the boys that just worked on the mornings so he and Wonho watched TV together until Hyungwon came back from his work. When he did, Wonho and him went out, each day Hyungwon showing the merman a new part of the city, something touristic or just a café that he liked.

Wonho knew that the boy was tired from working all day, but every time he offered to just stay at home and rest, Hyungwon told him that he hadn’t come all the way here just to be inside home, that he was fine.

“It must really suck turning into a mermaid every time you get in contact with water” Wonho said when Minhyuk came back.

They were currently watching H2O as Minhyuk wanted to show Wonho every film, drama and show that had mermaids in it. Of course, they had started with the Little mermaid. Minhyuk looked at him with his eyebrows raised while he sat down next to him.

“What? I turn when a part of me is IN the water not when the water is ON me” Wonho pointed out.

“Good point, you are still half fish”

“Rude”

They watched a few episodes before Wonho asked what had been on his mind for days.

“Does Hyungwon always work this much? He’s hardly been home” Minhyuk paused the episode and turned to look at him.

“Well, he loves his job so he’s always been hard working and he has to make up for the time he spent with you in summer, and now he has to pay for both of you” Wonho pouted, so it was his fault the he had to work so much. “But I’m sure he doesn’t mind. He’s the happiest I’ve seen him in a while when he’s with you”

Wonho smiled satisfied but the smile turned in a thoughtful expression, with his brows furrowed.

“What does Hyungwon work as though?” He asked, Minhyuk looked at him surprised.

“He hasn’t told you?” he practically shouted. Wonho shrugged.

“I haven’t asked” The surprise in Minhyuk’s face turned into a mischievous grin.

“Wait here” he said while getting up and running to his room. When he came back he did so with his hands filled with magazines. “You are lucky I saved all of these” he sat down again next to Wonho and gave him one of the magazines and gestured for him to open it.

Wonho started to look through the pages confused as to why did the boy give it to him until he saw a familiar face in one of the pictures. Hyungwon. Posing with fancy clothes, looking beautiful. Wonho looked at Minhyuk and the boy turned the page, when Wonho looked down again he saw even more pictures of his boyfriend.

“Is he a…?” Wonho started.

“A model, yes” Minhyuk interrupted him. “He started modelling in runways and then started with the photoshoots. Look, this is my favourite” he pulled out a magazine and showed it to Wonho. There was Hyungwon, smelling a flower, surrounded by pastel colours. Minhyuk took the magazine from Minhyuk’s hands to look at it better “You can keep it if you want” Wonho smiled at him “and now that I’ve been a good friend and showed you his cool photoshoots let me show you the embarrassing one” Wonho looked up again and couldn’t stop the laugh that came out of him when he saw the picture Minhyuk was showing him.

A few embarrassing photos later, they heard the door opening and Hyungwon’s greeting. That was Wonho’s cue to leave. He immediately stood up and practically ran to Hyungwon to greet him with a big smile on his face.

“Hey” Hyungwon said “What were you doing?” He looked past Wonho to where Minhyuk was, immediately recognizing what the boy had, his face paling “Minhyuk you asshole! Why did you show him that?” Minhyuk and Wonho laughed at him, the latter taking Hyungwon’s hand between his own.

“Don’t worry Hyungwonnie, you were really handsome in all of them” Hyungwon’s face turned red in seconds.

 

They were walking around Hyungwon’s old neighbourhood, the younger male telling the merman about all his memories there, the good ones the bad ones. It was then that Wonho brought up what he had been thinking about for days.

“Hyungwon, aren’t you tired of working so much every day?” they stopped walking and looked at each other. “Tell me the truth” Hyungwon let out a sigh and looked down.

“I’m tired, yeah. But we need money, and I want to treat you to everything you want and…” he stopped and looked to one side, slightly blushing.

“And what?” Wonho asked, tugging Hyungwon’s hand that was intertwined with his and tilting his head, leaning forward to look the younger in the eyes.

“I want to save up money to move to a better house, one with a big bathtub where we can bath together, maybe even a swimming pool you could swim in” he mumbled. Wonho grinned.

“That’s so sweet!” he captured the younger’s lips with his own, the boy immediately answering to his kiss. “What if I work too?” Wonho suggested pulling out. Hyungwon looks at him with a quizzical expression.

“You don’t have to, I told you I could take care of everything”

“But I want to! I don’t like staying home all day and there has to be something I’m good at”

“Okay, I’ll thought about it” Hyungwon said with a sigh.

They continued their walk, until they reached a playground filled with kids and Wonho let go of his boyfriend’s hand to run to it and play with the kids. They pushed him to the floor, getting on top of him, the older boy laughing and feigning that he was in pain. Hyungwon smiled while looking at them, they adored him. Suddenly, and idea pooped out in his head, he didn’t need to think more. He took out his phone and dialled Minhyuk’s number.

“Hey Hyungwon, I thought you were on a date with Wonho?” he greeted him.

“Hey Minhyuk. Yes I am but I wanted to ask you something?”

“Shoot”

“Do you and your mum still need help in the kindergarten?” he asked biting his lip while he saw how Wonho somehow made all the kids stand in a line in position, all of them waiting for him to tell them what to do next.

“Yes, nobody has applied yet and kids will start to stay in the afternoons too soon so we need assistance, why?”

“I think I found the best candidate”

 

 

Hyungwon was tired, REALLY tired. He had actually got up at ass o’clock to go with Wonho to Minhyuk’s childcare on his first day. He had almost fallen asleep on the subway ride with Minhyuk, Wonho telling him that he didn’t need to do this, that he could go alone with Minhyuk.

They arrived at the place, Minhyuk’s mother greeting them, she was just as bright as him.

“Hyungwon! Long time no see!” she exclaimed pulling him in a hug, Hyungwon hugged her back, she was always really warm with all their friend group. “And you must be his boyfriend Wonho” she said turning to the boy, he offered him a shy smile. Wonho didn’t want to admit it, but Hyungwon knew that he was really nervous. “I hope you do well”

“He will mum, I assure you” Minhyuk said with a smile.

They talked for a bit, Minhyuk’s mother explaining the basics to Wonho, telling him that she would teach him more when he is with the kids, the boy nodding and putting all his attention in what she said. When the first kid arrived, they greeted him and Hyungwon took it as his cue to leave but before he pulled Wonho apart.

“Call me if you need anything” he told him. He had bought Wonho a phone when they arrived to Seoul, to be in contact with the boy if anything happened.

“I will” Wonho assured him with a smile. Hyungwon smiled back at him.

“Work hard” he pecked him on the lips before walking to the door. “Fighting!” he shouted just before finally going.

He was actually worried about Wonho. His morale had decreased a lot this weeks he had been with him. Everything was fine at the beginning, but Hyungwon knew that being away from the sea for so long was taking a tool on the merman. He hoped working would help him forget it, he really hoped it did.

 

It helped, a bit. He noted how Wonho was more cheerful again, now that he wasn’t confined in their home. He always came back and told Hyungwon about what had happened that day with the kids, smiling happily. But it was a few days later that he came back earlier and he saw how Wonho looked at his tail while he was bathing, the sadness in his eyes, the longing on them when that night they were watching TV and the sea showed in it.

He couldn’t let it be when he knew that the boy he loved was hurting. That’s why he made a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thank you all for the lovely comments and the support, I don't know when I'll upload the next chapter as I'm lacking all motivation to write right now but I hope I will have it back before next week, anyways, I have the same name on Tumblr and I welcome anyone who wants to talk or ask anything ^^


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so first of all I'm really sorry because this took so much time and it's really short but I have not been at my best these past weeks so... sorry again. I really hope someone is still waiting for this, thank you all that still like this story. Sometimes I wish I was one of those writers that can write 5k chapters with extended descriptions and inner monologues but this would already be like 40k if that was the case and ain't nobody got time for that. 
> 
> I give you extra cute Hyungwonho to make up for the wait

Wonho walked with his eyes blindfolded, guided by Hyungwon’s hands, one on his back and the other on his. They were warm, a contrast to the chilly autumn air outside, their long summer days at the beach were long gone.

It had been a normal day, Wonho and Hyungwon going to their respective jobs, their later ‘date’ around the city, their dinner together. But when the time of going to sleep came, Hyungwon had instead told Wonho to put on his shoes and had lead him outside, putting the blindfold around his eyes. It had been a pain walking like that and Wonho asked a million times if the blindfold was necessary but Hyungwon kept insisting that he wanted to keep it a surprise. 

“Where are we going?” Wonho asked for the nth time, they had been walking for 15 minutes.

“Stop asking so many questions or you will ruin my surprise” Hyungwon answered “We are here already, but don’t take that off just yet” he let go of the older boy, who heard a door opening before he was lead forward and he heard the door closing behind him “now you can take it off” Hyungwon said from behind him, and the weird echo of his words had Wonho’s curiosity perking up.

He reached up to take the blindfold off and when his eyes finally focused he saw a huge swimming pool in front of him, around it there were stands. The place was just incredible, the tall ceiling made of glass so they could see the starry night. He looked speechless at it before turning to Hyungwon. The boy was nervously scratching the back of his head.

“I know you miss swimming and Shownu had the keys to this place because he is the captain of the team and I just asked him for them, and he gave them to me even though he doesn’t know anything because he is a good person and I know it’s not nearly as big and cool as the sea but I just thought that maybe you would…” he was cut off by Wonho’s lips against his own, and he wasted no time in answering to the kiss, putting his hands on Wonho’s waist to pull him closer. Wonho pulled back from him, letting their foreheads rest together.

“It’s perfect” he said grinning before getting away from the younger and running to the pool, stripping on his way there before jumping inside.

Hyungwon walked slowly to the pool sat down on the edge of it and just watched his boyfriend swim from one place to the other, occasionally sending him smiles. This had to be the best thing Hyungwon had ever done, Wonho’s smile was proof of it. After some time Wonho swam back to Hyungwon, resting his head on his legs while looking at him from the water. It had been too much time since the last time they were in that position, Hyungwon thought.

“I was thinking…” Hyungwon started, he looked at Wonho, who was giving him all of his attention now “Kids have a few days off school at the end of the next week so you don’t have to work. Maybe I can ask for a few free days and we can go to my grandma’s house? To the sea again?” Wonho’s face lit up.

“That would be awesome, that would be so awesome” He tried to reach up, to kiss the boy but when he couldn’t he opted for grabbing him and pulling him into the pool with him. Hyungwon yelped when he came in contact with the cold water, drenching his clothes. Wonho laughed at him and kissed him “I love you so much” he kissed him again “You are the most perfect boyfriend I could have” Hyungwon smiled and gave him a peck on the lips.

“I love you too, you know?”

They continued swimming and playing in the water together most of the night, Hyungwon had gotten rid of his clothes and hanged them long ago. He didn’t really think that they would dry off but it was uncomfortable being in the water with them.

Hyungwon tried not to feel weird being naked in front of Wonho, after all, the merman didn’t fully understand the concept of nakedness yet, and Minhyuk did it all the time.

They got dressed again when there was only a few hours before people started coming to train. Sleep finally reaching them. Wonho laughed at Hyungwon when he put on his still wet jeans, cringing at the feeling, kissing him softly and apologising for pulling him into the pool fully clothed. The kiss made the situation a bit better but he still shivered when the wet fabric made the cool morning air even colder. Wonho made it his mission to keep him warm the whole way back home, helping him put on some warm sweatpants and cuddling him when he arrived to their flat.

* * *

 

Hyungwon parked the car in front of his grandma’s house and before he even had the chance to turn off the engine, Wonho was already opening the door and running towards the house, nearly tripping in everything he encountered in his way to the door. Hyungwon finally turned off the engine and stepped out of the car, he took his bags before heading to the house too.

Wonho was jumping on his feet, impatient to leave everything and finally be able to go to the sea.  Hyungwon smiled at him, he looked so cute like that, sometimes he wondered if he really was the older of the two.

“Just go, I will take care of everything and then wait for you in our place” he told the older.

The later just looked at him while smiling widely before pecking him on the lips and running off to the sea while shouting “thanks! I love you!” Hyungwon felt himself blushing and he shook his head, opening the door and grabbing all of their bags.

He left everything in his room, getting out the things that could wrinkle and hanging them. He then went to the nearest shop to buy food for the few days they would stay there, ensuring he got all the merman’s favourites.

When everything was in its place, he finally decided to go out of the house, making his way to the beach.

It was deserted, the cool air and cold water was not something anyone would look for. The sand was bare, no towels on it, no kids making castles. No one was taking baths. It was completely different to the packed-up place Hyungwon knew from the summer. He slowly walked to the edge of the water and started walking to his and Wonho’s place. A lot of things had changed over the last months but, Hyungwon thought with a stupid smile on his face, he wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.

When he arrived at the cave it was empty, he had expected it but he still felt a pang of sadness hit his heart. He sat down in the sand, pulling out his phone and a book he had brought in a bag, along with clothes for Wonho, setting up to wait for the boy to come.

Hyungwon woke up startled when a hand shook him slightly. He heard a chuckle next to him, one he could recognise anywhere, and he groaned while stretching. He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep while waiting for the older but judging by the darkness, it had been a while ago.

He stretched out his arm, finding the older boy and wrapping it around him to pull him closer and into his lap. The older boy curled up immediately in it, putting his own arms around the younger boy just as he had done with him. Hyungwon’s half asleep mind noticed that he was still naked, and his hair was wet, so he must have just gotten out of the water.

“It took you a while” Hyungwon mumbled on the boy’s hair.

“I’m sorry, I had a lot to do” Wonho answered softly.

“Did you see your parents?”

“Yeah, they were really happy to see me, I told them how perfectly my life is going with the best boy in the earth” Hyungwon chuckled at that. They stayed like that while Hyungwon tried to fully wake up. He was going to propose going home already when Wonho talked again. “Would you like to meet Kihyun tomorrow?” Hyungwon took a deep breath.

“I thought you were going to ask me to meet your parents” he said. Wonho pulled away and looked at him, surprised, amused and slightly confused.

“Why would you meet them? That would be weird” Hyungwon chuckled lightly and pulled him closer again.

“Well, it’s what couples do, meet each other’s parents”

“Am I going to meet your parents?”

“Yes, of course, some day you will” Wonho hummed.

“I don’t think my parents would want to meet you, it would be weird for them”

“Okay” They stayed in silence for a bit. “I’d love to you know”

“What?” Wonho asked confused.

“I’d love to meet Kihyun, I know he’s important for you” Wonho smiled and pecked Hyungwon smiling. “Now” Hyungwon continued “we should go home to bed already, it’s getting late.” Wonho looked at the sea, and Hyungwon caught the look on his eyes. “Or you can sleep in there, I will come back tomorrow” he tried not to let out the sadness that sleeping alone again made him feel.

“What? No. I want to sleep with you, I would only miss you otherwise.” Wonho said with a serious look on his face. Hyungwon smiled and kissed him briefly before standing up and pulling out the clothes he brought for the merman to wear.

They walked back hand in hand and fell asleep together and Hyungwon couldn’t believe just how lucky he was.


	8. Chapter 8

To say that Hyungwon was nervous was an understatement. It was ridiculous, stupid, he knew, but that didn’t stop him from being nervous. He was just meeting his boyfriend’s best friend, everything would be alright, it went just perfectly when it was the other way around. Still, he knew how important was Kihyun’s opinion for Wonho, even more than his parents. So that morning he couldn’t help it but spend a bit more of time getting ready while Wonho went to look for his friend.

Hyungwon waited for them in their place, pacing from one side to the other nervously. It wasn’t long till he heard the water moving and turned to see Wonho’s smile, another head appearing next to him moments after to reveal another boy with stunning pink hair.

Wonho went out of the water and walked to Hyungwon, the boy saw how Kihyun looked weirdly at Wonho, a frown on his face when he saw his legs. Wonho took Hyungwon’s hand and led him to the water, but Hyungwon didn’t let him pull him into the water. It was cold, and he was sure he would get sick if he got in. He instead opted for sitting down where the water couldn’t reach him. He could tell the merman didn’t like him being so far up from him.

“Hyungwon, this is my best friend Kihyun. Kihyun, this is my boyfriend Hyungwon” Wonho said with a smile. Hyungwon bowed his head politely feeling stupid just as he did so.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you” Hyungwon said smiling.

“I’ve heard a lot about you too” Kihyun answered “how you left for years leaving Wonho here alone crying about it” Hyungwon froze at his words, turning to look at Wonho. Sure, he knew it must have been rough for him to stay alone but hearing about it was still a bit… weird.

“Kihyun! We talked about this!” Wonho whined while hitting the guy lightly.

“I won’t do that again” Hyungwon said, the other two boys turned to look at him at the same time, surprised “I love Wonho, a lot, I would never leave him, I promise you that” Wonho smiled widely at his words, and even when Kihyun tried to hide it, Hyungwon saw the small smile that appeared on his lips.

“See? It’s all fine now. And it was my fault to begin with. Now, I’ve convinced Kihyun to come with us to Seoul!” he said excitedly. Hyungwon looked at him surprised.

“What?”

“You have a problem with that?” Kihyun asked.

“No, of course not, it’s just… it’s sudden and… you will have to sleep on the sofa so maybe it’s a bit uncomfortable?” Hyungwon asked, Kihyun turned to look at Wonho with an inquisitive expression.

“He’s only exaggerating, sofas are not uncomfortable” Wonho brushed off. “Now, get out of the water, I’m going to teach you how to walk” Wonho told Kihyun.

“Wait” Hyungwon interrupted “I didn’t bring clothes for him”

“You are the only one who cares about that stuff” Wonho brushed him off with his hand “Now get out”

Wonho and Kihyun looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Kihyun looked away while he sighed.

“Fine, I’ll do it” he accepted reluctantly. Wonho smiled and clapped a bit.

“Yay! I knew you would give up” Kihyun sighed again before he started moving towards the land, throwing Hyungwon wary looks while doing so, Hyungwon understood it.

“If you are uncomfortable with me being here the first time you go out I can just go, I’ll come back later” he offered. Not like he had expected to spend these days alone with Wonho swimming and cuddling anyway.

Both merman looked at him and then at each other, and Hyungwon somehow felt like he was missing out on something, finally Kihyun clicked his tongue and Wonho smiled again.

“Fine, you can stay but just… don’t laugh, or touch me” Kihyun said. Wonho raised an eyebrow. “Oh my… Okay, you can help me but don’t make fun of me” he added throwing an exasperated look at Wonho.

“Hyungwon would never make fun at you, he was so sweet when he helped me for the first time”

Kihyun made a disgusted face.

“Don’t be sweet with me”

“Okay”

They helped Kihyun get out of the water. Once he turned into a human Hyungwon saw him looking amazed at his legs.

“It’s amazing, right?” Wonho asked smiling. Kihyun answered with a nod, still looking at his legs.

They both taught Kihyun how to walk, he was a fast learned, just like Wonho, and the boy cheered for him all the time. When they thought that Kihyun already knew how to walk well enough Hyungwon offered to go look for clothes for him to go to the town but Kihyun refused, saying that it was already too much for one day and going back to the sea, leaving Hyungwon and Wonho alone. Hyungwon would be lying if he said that he didn’t want Kihyun to leave to be alone with Wonho, and by the look they shared when Hyungwon looked at him gratefully, Kihyun knew too.

The moment Kihyun’s tail disappeared under the water Hyungwon had his arms around Wonho, hugging him from the back, rubbing his cheek against the older’s head. Wonho let out a small laugh.

“How long have you been waiting to do that?”

“Hmmmmm, since I saw you”

Wonho turned to leave a chaste kiss on the taller’s lips, smiling, he answered with a hum.

“Swim with me” Wonho said.

“It’s too cold”

“Please”

“I will get sick”

“I will keep you warm”

Hyungwon sighed and turned around to look at the merman, he was pouting.

“You know I love swimming with you but I can’t get sick, I will swim with you in summer, or in the swimming pool”

“Okay”

Hyungwon saw the sad look on Wonho’s face before he turned to get into the water and he wished he could do something about it, but he had never had a good health, and he couldn’t risk not being able to get up the next day, or driving them back to Seoul in two days.

So Wonho swam, and laughed, and tried to splash Hyungwon with water, earning playful scoldings from him, and Hyungwon took photos of him while he did so because he was so in love it was unreal.

 

The next day when they woke up and went to their cave, Kihyun was already waiting for them, he didn’t want to admit it but he was eager to see the outside world at last. He put on the clothes that Wonho had chosen for him, feeling a bit uncomfortable in the jeans, but he somehow liked them. They led him to the town, and Hyungwon watched how he reacted to everything. He wasn’t as familiar with the outside world as Wonho was when he first came out, as he spent a lot of time in Hyungwon’s phone, so he looked at everything with a mix of curiosity, amazement and caution. He wasn’t as hyped as Wonho in the sense that he preferred to stay with them and observe everything rather than run to the things to look at them better. Either way, it was cute. And he got to hold hands with Wonho and sneak kisses every time Kihyun wasn’t looking so all in all, it was a good day.

 

 

They entered the apartment. Hyungwon, Wonho and Kihyun. The ride to Seoul had been long but they had arrived at least. Hyungwon left Kihyun’s things in the living room, he didn’t have a spare room so he would have to sleep in the couch. He didn’t seem to mind.

As he had predicted, it was not long until he heard his door opening and in that moment, he really regretted giving Minhyuk a spare key. They were all sitting in the sofa after Wonho had showed Kihyun the whole apartment, not that it was that big to begin with, and then he had claimed to be too tired to go out that day.

Minhyuk appeared in the living room just a few moments later.

“I KNEW YOU WERE BACK” he practically shouted. Wonho greeted him with a smile, Hyungwon with a sigh and Kihyun looked at him curiously. “Would it hurt sending me a message telling me you came back? Shownu is out of town and I’m so bored” he said while pouting, then he finally looked at them properly and was surprised to see the pink-haired boy with them. “Oh hey, who are you?” he asked looking more at Hyungwon.

“He’s a friend of Wonho, he’s going to spend some time here with us” Hyungwon answered.

“I’m Kihyun, nice to meet you” the boy said.

“Minhyuk, nice to meet you too” he answered with a smile. “Wait… if he’s a friend of Wonho does that mean…”

“Yeah, he’s a merman too” Wonho interrupted him.

“I hope you and Shownu don’t mind…” Hyungwon started, doing a gesture with his hand.

“Oh yeah, it’s okay, a pleasure to help, don’t know what excuse I’ll tell Shownu, just, dude, are you going to bring a merman every time you go to your grandma’s? Not that I really mind because they are damn fine, but maybe you should think about buying a bathtub”

“he’s the last one, I swear” Hyungwon answered, Wonho opened his mouth to say something but Hyungwon stopped him with a no before he did.

“Anyway” Minhyuk continued while typing in his phone “I’m inviting Jooheon and Changkyun to come over to meet him” Hyungwon looked at him betrayed “What? Did you want him to third wheel you and Wonho the whole day and boring him to death? I think not”

There was nothing Hyungwon could do against him, not now, not ever.

Jooheon and Changkyun arrived in no time, exited to meet another merman at last. They had found out one day they went to surprise Minhyuk in his house and Wonho was there, so, strangely, Shownu was the only one that didn’t know even when his house was the place where Wonho went to turn into a merman again. Either he was oblivious or he didn’t care.

They all wanted to ask the mermen a lot of questions but Minhyuk came up with the idea of leaving it for another day and turning it into a drinking game. Hyungwon didn’t know if he should feel relieved of scared of it. Maybe more scared.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... If any of you have any questions you think they can ask them about being mermen... tell me please :)


	9. Chapter 9

Hyungwon, Wonho, Kihyun and Minhyuk sat in the sofa while they waited for Jooheon and Changkyun to come. Kihyun was uncomfortable, with Minhyuk observing him, without even blinking.

Minhyuk didn’t really know why did he do it, it wasn’t like he was the first merman he knew, he was friends with Wonho, but there was something different with knowing someone who turned out to be a merman and meeting someone who you knew was a merman since the beginning.

 Also, Wonho and Kihyun were complete opposites, while Wonho was friendly since the beginning, Kihyun was more distant, reserved, cautious. But Minhyuk saw that under the hard exterior there was a soft inside, you could see it in the looks he threw Wonho, the subtle touches to reassure himself that everything was right.

The doorbell rang and Wonho quickly shot up to open it, Hyungwon watched as his home was invaded again while missing the warmth on his side, he wondered when would his friends just go to their own places.

Wonho greeted them friendlily and they walked to the living room.

“Hey, Minhyuk told us to come what’s up?” Changkyun asked. He stopped in his tracks when he finally saw Kihyun, he was surprised not only by his brilliant hair colour but by how much he reminded him of Wonho, even when they were nothing alike physically. Minhyuk got up and pointed at Kihyun with his hands wide open.

“Guys, this is Kihyun, Wonho’s merman friend” Both Jooheon and Changkyun looked between the two surprised while Hyungwon let out a deep breath.

“So now we have two mermen in our group of friends?” Jooheon asked “Nice”

“Oh oh oh, I have a question!” Changkyun exclaimed “How do you speak with one another under water?”

Kihyun and Wonho looked at each other for a few seconds before Wonho opened his mouth to answer the question, but just when he was going to do it, Minhyuk out his hand on his mouth and Wonho looked at him confused.

“Don’t answer! I have a better idea, we buy alcohol and turn it into a drinking game! It’s been too long since we got drunk together and I’m sure these guys here have never tasted alcohol, it will be fun!”

Everyone cheered, happy or just excited at the idea. Everyone but Hyungwon, who just sighed, already done with it.

 

That had been yesterday. Now, Hyungwon was opening the door of Minhyuk’s apartment, ready to get his boyfriend like he did every day. When he reached the living room, Wonho was already there. His hair still wet from the bath, his cheeks flushed and his body buried in a large sweater that Hyungwon swore was his. He was the definition of soft and Hyungwon felt his heart swell at the sight, warmth spreading in his chest.

He walked to his boyfriend and gave him a soft kiss, feeling the other boy smile into it.

“What are you doing out already?” he asked. Normally he would still be splashing when he got home.

“I just finished, Kihyun is next”

“Oh right, do you want to wait here or do you want to go upstairs?”

“Hmmmm, let’s go upstairs alone”

Hyungwon smiled, at last, some alone time with his boyfriend. They shouted that they were going, Minhyuk and Kihyun answering them, and left to their own place holding hands.

 

 

 

Shownu entered his apartment and left his things at the door, he was tired from visiting his parents, the ride home had been so long. He walked to the living room, eyes half closed by the tiredness he felt. The last thing he expected was meeting a naked guy standing in the middle of his living room. His eyes went completely wide before he covered them with his hand and turned around while blushing like crazy.

“MINHYUK” he shouted.

“WHAT” he heard the boy answer, before a door opened “ohmygod” his roommate said the moment he entered the living room too. He went to the bathroom to get a towel and came back with it, offering it to Kihyun. “You have to put this on to cover that. You can open your eyes now Shownu”

The boy did so and, now that he could, he properly looked at the boy in front of him, he was handsome, really handsome, one of the most beautiful boys that he had ever seen and that was a lot considering who his friends were. His bright pink hair making it impossible to tear your eyes away from him.

The boy was looking at him curiously, with a hand holding the towel around his hips. He wanted to ask Minhyuk why there was a naked guy in the middle of their apartment but he judged it may be a bit rude to do so. Minhyuk had been alone these past days, he wasn’t one to judge what he did in his alone time.

“This is Kihyun, Wonho’s friend that I told you was going to come. Kihyun, this is Shownu, my flatmate” Minhyuk introduced them, Shownu still couldn’t bring himself to look away from Kihyun.

“But why is he…” he started.

“He came to take a bath, y’know, like Wonho” Shownu nodded.

“Right, I’m not going to ask anything” he said, he was going to head to his room when Kihyun spoke, and if that wasn’t the most beautiful voice ever.

“Doesn’t he know?” He asked, still looking at Shownu curiously. The other ones knew, but he didn’t seem to.

“Know what?” Shownu asked.

“I don’t think it is…” Minhyuk started.

“That Wonho and I are mermen and need to get into the water every few days, if not all” Kihyun said, as if it was the most normal thing ever.

Shownu nodded “okay” he simply answered, “that explains a lot” he added. Kihyun looked at him with a smirk, Minhyuk looked between the both of them waiting for them to say something. When they didn’t and they just kept looking at each other he clasped his hands.

“THEN, Kihyun, don’t you want to dress and go with Wonho already?” he asked.

“Right. I’ll see you later, a pleasure meeting you Shownu” he said while he walked back to the bathroom, smiling to him again while looking back.

“The pleasure is mine” Shownu half whispered, before walking to his own room.

Minhyuk barely kept his squeal inside and run upstairs to tell Wonho and Hyungwon what had just happened.

He barged into their apartment, not bothering in knocking, when had him anyway?

“GUYSGUYSGUYS YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE” he stopped when he saw the two boys making out in the couch “Ew, stop, that’s gross, I’m right here” They got away from each other and looked at him at the same time, Wonho grinned, not getting off from Hyungwon’s lap. The younger boy groaned and rested his head in the back of the couch, looking at the ceiling.

“One day, just one day, you will knock and respect our privacy” Hyungwon said.

“Not likely” Minhyuk answered, and sat down on the arm chair. Hyungwon let Wonho get off him and sit next to him with a scowl. “Okay, now, Shownu just got home and saw Kihyun and he told him everything about being mermen but that’s not the important part I’ve not seen him look at another boy like that in ages and Kihyun had this smirk on and I swear there is something going on and they’ve just met”

“What” Hyungwon did not follow him.

“Oooh, I understood” Wonho said with a smile.

“So you think they can…?” Minhyuk asked excitedly.

“I don’t know, Kihyun has never been with anyone, I haven’t dated anyone besides Hyungwon either, so I don’t know his type or anything but Shownu is a good guy, I approve”

“I really hope they end up together they would be just so good together”

The door opened, after a few seconds they saw Kihyun entering the living room, he stopped to look at them confused when everyone looked at him expectantly. Finally, Wonho spoke.

“So… Shownu?”

“Oh shut up, I’m not as stupid as you are to fall for a human” Kihyun answered with a scowl, while slumping down in the couch next to Wonho, who was pouting.

“Oi, what’s wrong with us?” Minhyuk asked.

“It’s… bothersome” Kihyun answered, his gaze lost ahead.


	10. Chapter 10

Minhyuk left the last soju bottles on the coffee table in the middle of Hyungwon’s apartment. Everyone was already sat around it on the floor, waiting for Minhyuk to explain what they were going to do.

“So it goes like this. Each of us make turns making assumptions about mermen things and the rest of us say if we think it’s true or not, Wonho and Kihyun tell us if we are right and whoever is wrong has to take a shot” Minhyuk said before he sat down next to Hyungwon, with Shownu at his other side. Of course, Wonho was between Hyungwon and Kihyun.

“Wait, since when does Shownu know they are mermen?” Changkyun asked, he looked to Kihyun, right next to him, when he answered.

“I told him. Why didn’t you tell him in the first place if everyone else knew?” he still was confused about it. Changkyun shrugged.

“Everyone else just sort of found out, he was the only one that didn’t ever question anything”

“Okay! Who wants to start?” Minhyuk exclaimed, interrupting him, he was impatient to start already. Changkyun raised his hand and Minhyuk made a gesture in his direction.

“Okay, do you breathe underwater or do you have to come up to breathe like dolphins?”

“That’s not an assumption” Shownu pointed out.

“Let’s just each of us say one of the two options” Jooheon proposed.

“It’s just obvious they breathe underwater” Hyungwon said. Everyone agreed and they looked at the mermen.

“Of course we breathe underwater” Kihyun said.

“Yeah, it would be too bothersome having to go all the way up to the surface all the time” Wonho provided.

“So, no one drinks? What about them?” Jooheon asked.

“That’s true Minhyuk, you didn’t say when will they drink” Changkyun helped him.

“Okay, how about this” Minhyuk started, while touching his chin with his finger “they take a shot every time the person that asked is right” everyone agreed, and Minhyuk reached out to pour them a shot for each and handed them to them.

Wonho looked at it curiously while Kihyun brought it close to his face to sniff it, scrunching his nose and getting it away from him when he smelled the strong aroma.

“Hey Hyungwon, why don’t you take a shot to show them how to do it?” Minhyuk asked with a mischievous smile, Hyungwon directed a glare at him, he knew that he didn’t handle alcohol well.

Still, he poured himself a shot and downed it in one gulp, scrunching his face when the sour taste reached his tongue, leaving the shot glass on the table with a hard thump after.

“Now it’s your turn”

They all observed the two mermen taking their first shots, the faces they made at the taste.

“I like it” Wonho declared finally, Hyungwon looked at him surprised.

“You can take my shots too if you want”

“Where is the fun in that?” Minhyuk interrupted them. “Who is next?” Jooheon raised his hand.

“Me! I say that you two can communicate with telepathy, it’s impossible to talk underwater”

“I agree” Minhyuk nodded, Changkyun too.

“There’s no way that can be true? So what? They are having telepathic conversations now?” Hyungwon said, Shownu agreed with him.

They all looked at the mermen expectantly, the two of them looked at each other for a few seconds before Kihyun shrugged and Wonho turned to Hyungwon.

“Love” he said.

“What?”

“Pour us shots” Hyungwon looked at Wonho surprised.

“Are you serious? You can actually read each other’s minds?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, I can’t hear EVERYTHING he thinks about, just the thoughts that are directed to me or really loud” Kihyun explained

Hyungwon still was dumbfounded while he poured shots for the four of them, so this is why they sometimes looked at each other like that without saying anything. Or why he never heard them talking when they were alone.

“I say you all have just any kind of hair colour naturally” Minhyuk said, everyone agreed with him.

“Yeah but you do too right? Your hair is white” Wonho said, all the humans just laughed.

“That isn’t his natural hair colour, you can dye it the colour you want” Hyungwon explained.

“Oh! I want to do that” Wonho exclaimed smiling. Hyungwon smiled softly at him.

“You can do it whenever you want, I’ll help you. Now, I saw that all of you have amazing singing voices, I know that you do”

They all looked at Kihyun expectantly, so he started singing. Hyungwon recognised the song as the OST of one of the dramas Wonho and Minhyuk watched. Kihyun was singing with his eyes closed and Hyungwon let his gaze wander between all of his friends, all of them looking at Kihyun amazed, Wonho with a proud smile on his lips and Shownu… If Hyungwon didn’t know that Shownu and Kihyun had met just the previous day he would say that the boy was very much in love.

 

They continued asking and drinking, laughing at the stupid assumptions and amazing themselves with the true ones. Sometime later Minhyuk observed how Shownu and Kihyun were engaged in a deep conversation, he didn’t know what they were talking about, but he saw the small smiles in both of their faces. He turned to Jooheon and Changkyun who had ditched the previous game in favour in having a drinking competition themselves. Minhyuk was sure they were going to hate themselves the next morning.

Wonho and Hyungwon were still next to him, Hyungwon had drank too much already and he had his arm on the sofa they were leaning on, carefully circling Wonho’s shoulders without really touching him. He was leaning on Wonho’s personal space, not that he had they really had much, but the straightforward flirting had Wonho blushing lightly.

“Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?” Hyungwon asked.

“Hmmmm… maybe” Wonho answered, a playful smile on his lips.

“Your eyes look like the sea is inside them”

Minhyuk wanted to puke at the cheesiness of his best friend, but he had to agree that he was doing fairly well considering how bad he handled alcohol. He tuned out of the flirting, deciding to join Jooheon and Changkyun in their game, he had time tomorrow to regret his decisions.

He didn’t have time to even get up before he heard sniffing, turning around to see Hyungwon crying into his hands. He looked at Wonho surprised, the merman looking at him just the same, both turning to look at Hyungwon right after. He was perfectly okay just seconds ago.

“What did you…” Minhyuk started.

“He asked me if I was single and started crying when I said no” Wonho explained dumbfounded.

Minhyuk couldn’t contain the laugh that escaped him, Wonho joining him just seconds after. Hyungwon suddenly perked his head up, as if he had just realised something important.

“Wait… I’m pretty sure your boyfriend is not here so… how about you cheat on him a bit?” Hyungwon asked, Minhyuk shook his head in disbelief. His friend hated cheating so much, he must be really gone to think of it as an option.

“I would never, he is the most perfect human ever” Wonho stated shaking his head “And he IS here” Hyungwon looked shocked at them.

“Is… Minhyuk your boyfriend? Oh my god I’m so sorry, Minhyuk I’m so sorry” he started crying again, leaning over Wonho towards Minhyuk to hug him, the white-haired boy just laughing at him., reaching up to pat his head.

“It’s okay, Wonho is not my boyfriend” He told the boy. He was tempted to fuck with him a bit, acting as if the merman was really his boyfriend but seeing the boy crying he took pity on him. “I think it’s time for you to go bed already, Wonho can you take care of him?” He asked him, he should get a prize to the best friend.

Wonho nodded and helped his boyfriend stand up, leading him to his room. Once inside, he closed the door behind them, he helped the tall boy to lie down on the bed.

“Hmmmm it’s comfy” Hyungwon said with a soft smile. Wonho let out a small chuckle.

“Yes, it’s comfy. Now, let me help you out of your clothes, you can’t sleep in them” He reached to unbutton his pants but Hyungwon scurried away from him “What are you doing?”

“You can’t, you have a boyfriend” Wonho sighed.

“Are you still with that? You have a boyfriend too you know?” Hyungwon suddenly opened his eyes wide, as if he didn’t remember until Wonho told him.

“I do”

“You do”

“And I love him. A lot”

“I know. Now let me help you”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After telling myself that no, Minhyuk can't be in a poly relationship with Hyungwon and Wonho in this fic I've decided that he's not going to have a romantic interest because it would be Jeonghan again and nobody but me wants that. Then, if Jooheon and Changkyun are together is totally up to you :)
> 
> Sorry everyone for taking longer than usual to update, I was outside the country for a few days.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm... sorry? It's been difficult to write these days, not only for the lack of motivation but my mother insists in making me go outside, as if that is going to make me feel good. Anyway, nobody really cares so I'll just say thank you for waiting.
> 
> The parts in italic are Wonho and Kihyun taking with telepathy? It sounds weird putting it like that.

He was cold. That was the first thing he felt in the morning. He reached out to try to find the warm body next to him that had become a constant in his life just to find nothing. Not even warmth on the sheets, not a sign that someone had slept there that night.

He sat up rubbing his eyes, confused he looked around the room but he was right, there es no sign of Wonho in it.

He moved to the side of the bed but when he got up his feet didn’t meet the carpet next to his bed. His feet met something soft and a groan. He immediately put his feet up again amd looked down, seeing Wonho grab his stomach and groan in pain and sleepiness.

“What the hell are you doing sleeping on the floor” Hyungwon deadpanned, still not fully awake.

“You wouldn’t let me sleep with you because ‘we both have boyfriends that we love’” Wonho answered mocking Hyungwon’s voice. He got up at the same time the other boy groaned and threw himself on the bed again. Wonho reached out to grab Hyungwon’s hand “c`mon, get up. We all promised Shownu yesterday that we would go see him train because his competition is in a few days and he needs support”

“Can’t we support him the day of the race? I want to sleep, my head hurts” he answered with his eyes still closed.

“If you get up now I will pay for your food and cuddle with you tonight”

“We completely share the money. And you can’t spend a day without cuddling me” Hyungwon stated, he curled up more on the sheets.

“Maybe we can do something more that cuddling” Wonho said. Hyungwon fully opened his eyes and looked astonished at his boyfriend with a blush appearing on his face. The other boy was biting his lip smirking at him. Hyungwon had to clear his throat to be able to speak.

“Who the hell taught you that”

“I take that as a yes?”

“Answer”

“I’ll leave it to you” Wonho sing song while exiting the room to have breakfast and prepare himself.

“IT WAS MINHYUK WASN’T IT?” Hyungwon shouted, but Wonho was already out, so he didn’t get a response, instead, he just groaned into the pillow.

 

 

When Hyungwon, Wonho and Kihyun finished preparing, they went to get Minhyuk to walk together to the pool, Shownu had left already in the morning, leaving them to join him later.

When they went to sit at the stands Changkyun and Jooheon were already there, observing the swimmers.

“Hey” Changkyun greeted them “How’s your head Hyungwon?” the boy groaned in response, taking a sit next to him.

“He’s been complaining the whole morning, I think I’ll have to leave him” Wonho answered for him, dramatically putting a hand over his heart before he sat himself next to his boyfriend smiling.

“Oh shut up, you would never. I just can’t understand how are all of you so well so early in the morning”

“Maybe because we don’t have the metabolism of a grandpa like you do, we drank a lot of water and it’s like eleven already” Minhyuk answered. Hyungwon pouted and Wonho laughed at him hitting him slightly.

“Hey, it’s Shownu’s turn” Changkyun said. They all looked at the pool, they were doing practise races and effectively, Shownu was preparing for the next one.

“C’MON YOU CAN DO IT MAKE ME PROUD OF YOU” Minhyuk shouted, getting up from his seat. Shownu looked at the and waved before putting on his goggles and getting in position.

_“He was looking at you”_ Wonho told Kihyun. The other boy turned to him and sighed before looking towards the pool again.

_“He was not”_ Kihyun answered, before Wonho could say something more he added “ _whatever you are thinking about just stop it, it’s probably wrong”_

Wonho set his lips in a straight line. In that moment the whistle blew and everyone jumped into the pool and started swimming. Shownu was ahead of them all, moving his body with the water.

“ _He’s beautiful”_ Kihyun thought, and Wonho knew very well that that was not meant for him but he oh so loved teasing his friend.

“ _What was that?”_

_“Shut up”_ Wonho looked at his friend, who was blushing while trying to act like nothing was happening.

_“Didn’t you say that I was wrong?”_

_“I said shut up”_

_“Is that my friend Kihyun blushing and calling a human swimming beautiful?”_ Kihyun shoved a laughing Wonho away from him, while still blushing like crazy and everyone turned to them confused.

Kihyun settled back into his seat just in time to see Shownu win the race. Taking off his goggles and swimming cap and looking at them again, this time with a smile on his face. Everyone clapped at him, Minhyuk being a little too loud and Kihyun gave him a thumbs up, making Shownu turn away to hide his own blush, Wonho laughed at his friends’ stupidity.

“ _Maybe you can ask him to swim with you some time”_

Kihyun hit him again and him and Wonho started to fight playfully with the others looking at them curiously. Hyungwon was going to stop them from fighting when his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and the moment his eyed met the screen his brows furrowed, a displeased look on his face.

“I’ll come back in a sec” he said, everyone making acknowledging sounds, before he got up ans walked away, not picking up the phone until he was out of hearing reach.

Wonho looked in the direction he had left with a concerned look on his face. Hyungwon didn’t look happy but he hadn’t told him anything about something going wrong. Wonho thought they shared everything, that they didn’t hide anything. He shook his head, trying not to think about it. He needed to trust Hyungwon, if he didn’t say anything then it wasn’t important, if it was, he would tell him later.

After 15 minutes of cheering their friend he finally ended his training so everyone stood up to go wait for him to the entrance. Hyungwon had not come back yet so Wonho took care of the mission of finding him while everyone went out.

Wonho walked through some corridors, wondering where he could be, if he had already gone out. Just before he turned a corner he heard Hyungwon’s voice, still on the phone. He didn’t know what made him do it. Maybe the concern he felt when he saw Hyungwon’s face looking at his phone, maybe it was only simple curiosity, maybe he watched too many dramas but he stopped in his tracks and put his back against the wall next to the corner, to hear what his boyfriend was saying.

“I told you I don’t want to …… yes, I know it’s a great opportunity but ……. Let me speak I’ve been hearing your arguments for 15 minutes now. I don’t want to go overseas, I’m happy just where I am, I earn enough to live comfortably and have everyone I want here. I don’t care if it’s a huge brand, I don’t wish to be worldwide famous. I have a life here, I can’t just leave it, I can’t leave him” Hyungwon made a big pause then, Wonho felt his heart speed up and his breath catch up on his throat “We’ll talk tomorrow I have to go back to that life now and we are not getting anywhere” Wonho heard how he hanged up and the deep sigh that followed.

He decided then to get out from his hiding spot and walk to him with a smile on his face. The other boy had his face hidden in his hands and Wonho felt his heart sink to his feet but he still kept the smile.

“Hey, we are leaving already” he said. Hyungwon looked at him surprised, a fond smile appearing on his face too.

“I didn’t realise so much time had passed, sorry” Wonho shook his head and took his hand, leading him to the exit.

“It’s okay, you didn’t miss much, just Shownu winning even more races” Hyungwon let out a soft chuckle and Wonho allowed himself to look at him properly while the other was focused in the way ahead.

He had changed so much in those years, he was now even more handsome, taller and his factions were sharper but he was still the little boy he once knew. The one who excitedly told him about the human world and his friends, the one who bought ice cream for him every day even though he probably didn’t have much money, the one who drew them in his free time, the one who cried when he had to leave at the end of summer. The same boy he had to leave because he put Wonho before himself, because he refused to move forward with his life just to stay with him. And now he was doing just the same thing.

Hyungwon looked down at him, confused when he saw Wonho already looking at him.

“What?” He asked.

“Is everything alright?” Wonho asked.

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“Nothing” _Liar_ “Just wondering”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it sucks because I just wrote this at like 2am also I FINALLY MANAGED TO WRITE SOME ANGST HAHAH sorry? This kinda short so sorry about that too I guess

Wonho should have let it go already, it had been days since they went to Shownu’s training, since he heard the conversation Hyungwon had on the phone. He told himself everyday that if Hyungwon didn’t say anything then it was not important, that he was worried for nothing but every day he saw the worried looks he threw his phone, how he sighed before declining the calls from his agency. So he couldn’t just let it go.

He was putting on his pyjamas, Hyungwon was in the kitchen making dinner while Kihyun was in the living room. Neither of them had work that day so they had spent the whole day out and Wonho was tired, he didn’t want anything more than eat dinner and go to bed to cuddle with Hyungwon until they fell asleep.

A sudden ring scared him out of his thoughts, it didn’t take him more than a few seconds to recognise Hyungwon’s ringtone. He looked at the phone, Hyungwon’s manager’s name on the screen. He turned to look at the door, it was closed and by the sounds of the kitchen Hyungwon hadn’t heard his phone.

He reached out for the phone while biting his lip. Should he do it? Before he could really think about it he had already answered the call and put the phone to his ear. He hesitated for a few seconds and cleaned his throat before he spoke.

“Hello?”

“Hyungwon?” The voice on the other end, a woman’s voice, asked. Wonho looked at the door once more before he sat down on the bed.

“No, this is Wonho, how can I help you?” there was a small pause before he heard a response.

“Wonho? You are Hyungwon’s boyfriend, right?” Wonho nodded before he realised she couldn’t see him.

“Yeah I am, you need something from me?”

“Maybe” The woman on the other end sighed, she sounded really tired “Listen, Hyungwon got offered a modelling contract in Europe with a really big company and I want him to take it, it could sky rocked his career, he could be so _big_ but he keeps refusing and it’s really stressing me out” Wonho tried to keep up with what she was telling him “I think he refuses to sign because of you” There was a small pause in which Wonho felt his heart skip a beat “and I’ not really blaming you but it seems like he takes your relationship really seriously… I was just thinking that maybe you could ask him to accept the contract? Maybe if he hears it from you he will com to his senses”

“How important is it?” Wonho could hardly make the words get out from him.

“Sorry?”

“How important is it?”

“Very, very important. It would mean so much to him, I don’t think he will ever get a chance like this”

“I’ll talk to him”

“Really? Thank you so much”

Wonho couldn’t bring himself to answer again so he just ended the call. HE had been right. Something had happened. Something big. Something that could make Hyungwon’s life even better and the boy was staying back for him again.

He went to the living room and sat down next to Kihyun on the sofa, the other merman feeling in the second that there was something wrong. Wonho’s face was a mess. What could he do? Hyungwon wasn’t going to listen to him, he didn’t the last time and he seemed really fixed in his decision now. The only thing that worked the last time was…

“ _Kihyun”_ he called. The other boy looked at him from his side curiously. They didn’t usually talk through their telepathy bond unless they wanted to say something that they didn’t want the others to hear.

_“What is it?”_

_“How would you feel about leaving?”_ Kihyun furrowed his brows, now more confused than before.

_“Why would you want to leave?”_

_“I asked first”_ Wonho wasn’t even looking at Kihyun, he was looking at the front, his mind working at full speed.

_“I wouldn’t mind leaving if that’s what you want”_

_“But what about Shownu?”_ Kihyun snorted _“Don’t try to act as if you don’t like him because I know you”_ Wonho warned. Kihyun pursed his lips.

_“I may like him, but it’s not irreversible yet and he would forget about me very easily. BUT on the other hand, what you have with Hyungwon IS irreversible, why would you want to leave?”_

_“So that he can have a better future”_

Kihyun was going to ask again when Hyungwon’s head appeared from the kitchen.

“HEY, if you are not going to help me with the food at least help me with the table.” He said. Wonho immediately smiled at him and stood up to go to his boyfriend leaving a very confused and worried Kihyun behind.

I wasn’t easy. Explaining Kihyun why he wanted to leave, having to hear him tell him he was stupid for it, that he had to speak with Hyungwon. The fight they had because Wonho just wouldn’t listen to Kihyun, he was too stubborn. Kihyun didn’t like what Wonho was doing, he didn’t like it one bit. But he agreed. Kihyun knew just how stubborn his friend could get and he was going to leave one way or another, may as well help him and go with him.

It was more difficult than the last time. Hyungwon was not the only one that knew about them so they had to erase the memories of a lot of people. They divided them between the two, the only things that Kihyun asked for was that he was the one who would erase Shownu’s memories and that Wonho would begin with Hyungwon and then they would get to the others, in silent hope that something would go wrong.

It takes them a few days to plan everything but here they are now. It’s 11 pm, everyone is asleep already and Kihyun is just outside Minhyuk’s and Shownu’s apartment, waiting for Wonho to tell him to go on.

Wonho slips into his and Hyungwon’s room and stares at his boyfriend. Some light from outside enters through the window so he is able to properly look at him, at his dark hair spread all over the pillow, his thick lips that he moves slightly in his sleep, his eyelashes casting shadow on his face. He is so beautiful that Wonho wants to cry just at the thought of leaving him.

But he remembers the future Hyungwon could have. His mind wanders off to one day that he had went with Hyungwon to the set to see him work. He had never seen Hyungwon look so good, everyone was complimenting him and he seemed just in his element, posing for the photographers, interacting with the other models… Wonho specially remembers one female model that got too close to Hyungwon all the time, how she looked at him when he was introduced as Hyungwon’s boyfriend, the disappointment and… disgust? He hadn’t understood the look at the time but he did later after asking Minhyuk. Maybe Hyungwon could be happy without him. Find a pretty model.

Wonho walked to the bedside table to take Hyungwon’s phone, opening it and going to the photo gallery right away before sitting down on the edge of the bed at Hyungwon’s feet. He went through all the photos of Hyungwon and him. All the photos they had taken in their dates, candids of him that he didn’t even know they existed. He reached the first selcas he had taken all the way back in summer, at their place, when he hadn’t even seen the outside world, Hyungwon had showed him so much… he had made him feel so much. He went through all of them and selected them all.

He took a last glance at his boyfriend sleeping on the bed. This was all for the best he told himself, Hyungwon was not going to be hurt by it. Wonho’s thumb hovered above the screen.

**Would you like to delete all the selected items?**

**-Yes                                          No**

 

 

 

 

 

Hyungwon arrived at an empty apartment. A part of him expected something, someone, a smile, a voice. But it was stupid, he had been living alone for years now, there was no one to greet him when he came back.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I feel like dying if I don't feel the touch of your body against me. 
> 
>  
> 
> Sorry for leaving you all hanging, you are all really dramatic omg have a little faith in me idk how to really write angst. I had to cut this shorter than what I'd like but I have two options from here and I don't know which one will be best.

Hyungwon sat down on his bed and looked at the other side, empty. He couldn’t help having the feeling that there was something missing next to him, _someone_ , he tried to brush it off but something inside of him refused to let him an it was overwhelming. He couldn’t understand what made him feel like that, what had triggered it. Maybe he just had to buy a cat, _maybe a fish_ , a part of his mind provided. He smiled amused by his own thought. How could a fish keep him company?

He changed his clothes and went to the living room, sitting down on the couch and turning on the TV. What did he usually do when he wasn’t working? He couldn’t quite remember. He vaguely remembered going to Minhyuk’s house everyday and then going out but why did he do it? He could perfectly stay at home and be even more comfortable.

The ring of his doorbell took him away from his thoughts and he looked at the door with a frown. He didn’t expect anyone so it could only be Minhyuk but, why was Minhyuk ringing? He usually just opened the door himself as he had a spare key. Not caring about social norms about not barging into another people’s houses.

He got up and went to the door, opening it to reveal an agitated Minhyuk but that wasn’t new. What got Hyungwon narrowing his eyes was that he was not agitated as eh normally was, there was no smile on his face, no too bright and happy atmosphere. Instead he was sporting a frown and biting his lip worriedly.

“What’s wrong?” Hyungwon asked while stepping aside to let the other in, he was getting worried at seeing his friend like that. Minhyuk walked to the living room and just stood there, looking at Hyungwon.

“You know how yesterday one of the kids was ill and didn’t come to class?” Minhyuk asked. Hyungwon nodded, he didn’t know how that was important. “Well, today when he came, the first thing he did was ask about ‘Teacher Wonho’ and my mother and I were very confused and brushed it off as kids imagination but when his mother came she asked us too about the ‘handsome teacher Wonho, the one that sometimes comes with your friend’ and that can only be you so I just came in case you know… you knew something”

Hyungwon stared at the floor with a frown. He wanted to tell Minhyuk who that Wonho is, because he knows he knows him but at the same time he doesn’t. He doesn’t remember anyone with that name, he hasn’t accompanied anyone to Minhyuk’s daycare. A weird feeling is surrounding him, it feels just like when you can’t remember a word and feel it in the tip of your tongue but you can’t quite reach it. His mind, his _heart_ is reaching desperately for something, something that is not there anymore. He remembers the weird feeling he got when he arrived at his apartment, so close to what he’s feeling right now.

Hyungwon looks up to see Minhyuk looking at him worried and he realises he has not said anything the whole time.

“Maybe they are just confused with another place” he brightly provides. “I’m sure it’s nothing important and you are just overthinking it”

“I don’t know… they seemed really convinced about it…”

Something catches Hyungwon’s eye. There’s a notebook on top of his coffee table, a notebook that he doesn’t remember owning, that he doesn’t remember being there just 5 minutes ago. He puts an arm around Minhyuk, still eyeing the notebook, as if he is afraid it will disappear, and walks his friend to the door.

“C’mon, why don’t you go that that café you like? The one with the ‘most beautiful guy ever’?”

“Jeonghan?”

“Yeah, that guy. Maybe you can go there, ask for a coffee, keep your mind off of all of this and you can even get the courage to finally ask for his number” Minhyuk blushes at that and if Hyungwon didn’t have his mind in other things maybe he would even coo at how cute his friend was.

They arrived at the door and Minhyuk turned to look at Hyungwon before he left.

“Are you sure it’s nothing important”

“100% sure, don’t worry about it too much” Hyungwon lied, ignoring the unsettling feeling in his stomach “Now, go get your man”

He pushed Minhyuk out and then closed the door on his face before he could say anything more. He turned to look at the coffee table and, thank god, the notebook was still there. He released a breath he didn’t know he was holding, for some reason he couldn’t understand he was really worried about that notebook.

He walked to the sofa and sat down, taking the notebook in his hands, it looked worn out, as if it had been used a lot, every day. He opened it, the pages where filled with, yes, it was definitely his hand writing. All the notebook filled with it and something more. Pictures, of him, and of another boy, a smiling boy with blond hair and eyes like the sea. And his hear ached just looking at him, so much he brought a hand to his chest and clutched it, letting out a whine, for some reason he wanted to cry out in pain and he felt a tear rolling down his face and hitting the photograph of the boy.

He didn’t know how much time passed until he stopped crying. Probably a few minutes but it felt like hours. He felt stupid, confused and sad, mostly sad. His heart was aching for something he didn’t even know. He opened the notebook that he had let shut when he was crying and started reading the first page, the words that felt so familiar and at the same time so foreign.

_I’m writing this in case I forget. Not because I don’t trust Wonho, well, maybe because I don’t trust Wonho, but it has happened once already and I can’t take risks, not with something so important. Maybe this notebook can also turn into a diary with our happiest memories, hopefully it will not be used for what I planned it for. If it is being used with the purpose… I’m sorry future, stupid, clueless Hyungwon. If you are reading this something went wrong but worry not and prepare to read everything about Wonho, the boy that you would die for, the one you love with your whole heart._

Hyungwon didn’t sleep that night. He read, and he cried. And when the sun started appearing from behind the buildings of the city he finally put down the notebook, obviously incomplete, ready for him to continue writing about, apparently, his boyfriend. He stared at the notebook, his mind working at full speed and when he finally spoke, it was probably not what his past self hoped for but he wouldn’t he surprised either.

“You son of a bitch”


	14. Chapter 14

Hyungwon made sure that he had everything he needed before exiting his apartment. His wallet, with money, and cards. A jacket. Clothes. Did he need clothes? No, he didn’t plan on staying there. His keys. Where were his keys? He walked back to his room frantically searching his table until he found what he was looking for. He knew he should calm down, breath a bit, think it through but he didn’t want to. He wanted to go to the beach next to his grandma’s house, he wanted to see Wonho himself and he wanted to kick his ass.

He walked back to the door, when he went through his living room he saw the notebook there on his coffee table. He it while biting his lip nervously. Should he bring it? To read it again? To show Wonho? No. What if he takes it and makes him forget again? Then he wouldn’t have any other opportunity to get him back.

He grabbed the notebook and finally, went out.

Hyungwon stopped just one floor down, and started ringing on Minhyuk’s and Shownu’s door. Hoping they will get the door fast. He _knew_ at least Minhyuk must be there, he knew he didn’t have to leave his house yet.

After what felt like too long a half asleep Minhyuk, with his hair all over the place, opened the door and looked at him confused.

“Hyungwon? What are…” he started, Hyungwon didn’t let him finish.

“Do me a favour, keep this notebook till I come back. If I return alone, give it to me so I can try again, if I don’t return alone, give it to me when we are both alone” Hyungwon extended his arm towards Minhyuk with the notebook in his hand offering it to him and started waving it when he didn’t react fast enough. Minhyuk too it in his hands, still confused.

“Ooookay but why… where are you going?”

“To the beach, well, to my grandma’s, I’ll be going by train because it’s faster. Maybe you can go get us when we get back?” He asked in an afterthought. Minhyuk furrowed his brows.

“Us? We? Hyungwon who are you talking about?”

“You’ll know later, I won’t be gone for long hopefully, I’ll just kick his ass and get it back here”

“Okay?”

Hyungwon started walking to the stairs, not wanting to waste more time.

“See you later! Take care of my notebook” he shouted before he disappeared down the stairs, leaving a still very confused Minhyuk standing there on his pyjamas.

Hyungwon ran down the stairs, he would have to take a cab to the train station and he would have to take another when he arrived to get to the beach, all together was going to be much more expensive than going by car but he would get there in half the time. He just hoped it was worth it.

Luckily, there was a train just about to leave when he reached the station that he could take so he didn’t waste any time waiting for one.

Once he settled down and the train started moving he started calming down and thinking. Was this too impulsive? Probably. But something inside of him told him this was the right thing to do. He couldn’t forget the pain he felt when he saw the merman’s face, the longing and love he felt. He couldn’t just ignore it. He unlocked his phone. He had taken photos of the ones in the notebook. He scrolled thought them, something in his mind remembered those moments but he could not longer know if he was really remembering it or if he just remembered what he had read. He liked to think that his own memories had started to return.

He sighed and went to his contact list to look for his manager’s number. The last thing he wanted right now was being yelled at for not going to the shoot he had today without notice, but he had to warn someone. With a bit of luck, they would be able to cancel it before they start setting things up. He just wishes it didn’t have any bad consequences in his career.

Sooner than he expected, he was in his town, taking a cab to the beach and paying when he got there. He remembered perfectly how to get to the “cave” where he usually met with Wonho, even if he didn’t remember why he went there in the first place, so he wasted no time before walking there. He just hoped he could find the merman there, at least the other time it had worked. If he wasn’t there, he would have to wait till he came back and that would be a problem with his job.

His fears were unfounded since when he reached the cave, even before he even saw anyone, a beautiful voice singing made its way to his ears and he knew, _felt_ , that it was Wonho. He had heard something in the notebook about the other boy singing but he never imagined it would be this beautiful, this good. That it would make his heart swell like it was.

The moment he went around the last rock he felt his breath catching on his throat. He could see Wonho, he was sitting on top of a rock, his tail splashing in the water while he leaned back on his hands while he looked up at the sky, his eyes closed while he sang softly.

The photos didn’t give him any justice.

Now he understood why he had to come, why his past self talked so passionately about him. His chest was already filled with love and he didn’t really know the other boy.

He allowed himself a moment to appreciate the view in front of him. The sharp line of his face, the hard muscles of his chest and his back. Just, how the fuck did he manage to score a boyfriend like him?

He hadn’t. He remembered. The boy before him had left him and he came here for answers. And to hopefully get him back.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” he tried to say it calmly but there was a unmistakable hardness in his voice caused by his anger. Wonho had the right to leave him if he wanted but he had no right on his memories, on his life.

The magical calm that had reigned in the cave until now had been abruptly disturbed by his voice and Wonho turned to look at him with a startled look that soon turned to one of horror and understanding, turning to the water immediately after, prepared to jump right to it but Hyungwon’s voice stopped him.

“Don’t you dare run away from me” Wonho turned around again, his face was like an open book and Hyungwon could see he was confused, and scared. And his heart ached just at the thought that he was the one that had made him feel like that, like he had to fear something. But he was also hurt, angry and he could not disregard his feelings.

“How did you….” Wonho started.

“Did you really think that it would be that easy to make me forget you? That I would just give up on you?” Hyungwon did not wait for Wonho to answer, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear it. “Why did you think you had the right to just leave without saying anything? Without leaving a trace of you? Give an explanation? Leave me at least a memory?” he had started with a hard voice, making the other feel his anger but his voice cracked at the end and it was becoming more and more difficult to fight the tears. Seeing Wonho fight his own made it even more difficult. He took a deep breath before he continued with a much smaller voice. “If you wanted to leave you could have just told me, if you didn’t love me anymore… you could have just… leave me at least your memories”

“Hyungwon I…” Wonho started again, but Hyungwon cut him., voice firmer again.

“Do you know how much it hurt to know that you had left, erasing all trace of you? Knowing that there was something missing beside me but not being able to even remember what?” he sighed closing his eyes. He waited a few seconds before he opened them again, fixing his eyes in Wonho who had an expression probably as pained as his own. “What did you want to say?”

“I love you” Wonho blurted out. Hyungwon looked at him incredulously.

“Then why did you leave?”

“Because I love you. And you were going to throw your life away because of me” Hyungwon covered his face with his hands and turned around. This could not be happening. “I talked to your manager. You were going to throw away opportunities because of me”

Hyungwon let out an incredulous and nervous laugh, he faintly heard a Wonho getting his tail out from the water. And he turned to face the other, finding him much closer than he expected while he talked again.

“Are you stupid?” he stopped when he came face to face with the other. It was clear that Wonho had had the intention to reach out to him, his hand extended. His expression now surprised by Hyungwon’s sudden movement and what he had just said. Hyungwon thought that maybe his past self would have never called Wonho stupid and spoke to him so harshly.

“Are you stupid?” he repeated more tenderly. Having Wonho so close had made him soft and now he had to fight the urge to reach out and caress his cheek with his hand. “Didn’t you think about what I wanted, what I preferred?”

“Maybe what you wanted wasn’t the best for your future. Maybe you should have taken that offer in Europe when they offered it to you and leave me behind”

"Maybe I preferred to be with the person that made me happy instead of going to a place I don’t know to work with people I don’t like, doing the same thing I could do before but without you”

Their eyes did not leave each other’s, both of them looking for something, trying to understand the other.

“How do you know so much if you are supposed to have forgotten everything?” Wonho asked.

“I wrote a diary with photos and everything, about us, about you”

“Would you let me see it?”

“I don’t know… maybe you will take it and make me forget again” Wonho opened his mouth to protest but Hyungwon interrupted him “it doesn’t matter. I don’t have it with me now” they had slowly drifted closer while they talked and Hyungwon felt his heart about to burst. All of his senses were screaming for him to get closer and kiss the boy in front of him.

He let himself give in a bit, reaching out and putting his hand on Wonho’s cheek, the boy crossing his eyes for a moment and leaning in the touch. He opened them again when Hyungwon spoke.

“Will you come back home with me? Will you bring back my memories and promise me to not erase them again?”

“I… I don’t know how to give you your memories back, I don’t even know if that’s possible” Hyungwon pursed his lips, thinking hard while Wonho worried about what would happen.

“Then we’ll have to start again. but please, come back” Wonho got even closer to him, stopping just where their breaths met.

“Okay” he whispered before, at last, closing the distance between them, their lips melting together in a tender kiss.

Hyungwon felt his heart bursting in his chest, the feeling of the other set of lips against his was so foreign and familiar at the same time. He felt as if all his life he had been waiting for this to happen. It ended all too soon, Wonho pulling apart just as softly as he had got closer before, his lips curving in a soft smile, not really going too far.

“Well, where do you have the car?” Wonho asked, his voice much happier now that he knew Hyungwon had accepted him back.

“Eeeeeemm, I didn’t bring it” Hyungwon answered shyly, Wonho looked at him surprised.

“Then how did you come?” he asked.

“I took the train, it is faster you know” Wonho cooed at him, Hyungwon wanting to get to him as fast as possible was too adorable.

“At least you brought me clothes, right?” Wonho asked and then, Hyungwon realised that the merman was stark naked before him. Then he looked down at his hands, empty and at the merman’s incredulous face.

“Hyungwon!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to say thank you all for the kudos and comments even if I don't answer them I read every single one and they really brighten up my days <3


	15. Chapter 15

 In the end, Hyungwon lent Wonho his underwear and jacket so he could walk to his house. It wasn’t the best image if anyone saw them but still better than having him walk there naked. Hyungwon still hoped that no one saw them like this.

They arrived without being seen and the moment the door closed behind them Hyungwon let out a huge sigh, he didn’t remember the last time he was this tense.

“You know where my room is right?” Hyungwon asked Wonho while the older took off his shoes. Hyungwon had gave him them too, the merman’s feet much more delicate than his own. “I think I left some clothes the last time I was here so look for something to wear” he said while he checked his phone, not looking at the other boy. They had hundreds of messages from his friends, mostly Minhyuk, and calls from Minhyuk and his manager. He didn’t bother to read the messages or answer the calls. He could deal with it all later.

Hyungwon looked up from his phone and to Wonho curiously when he didn’t see the other moving and saw him biting his lip nervously.

“You don’t know where is it? Just go up the stairs…”

“It’s not that, I was wondering… are we going back now?”

“Mm yeah, as soon as we get ready we can get the first train, why?”

“I was hoping maybe we could stay a little bit here” he said while he got closer to Hyungwon “spend some time alone before we go back”

He reached out to put his hand in Hyungwon’s nape, getting even closer to him. He smirked when he saw Hyungwon gulp. The younger felt his heartbeat getting faster and louder, and he cursed at himself for being so weak for the other boy so quickly.

“I… I have to go back to work” Hyungwon tried to protest but it sounded weak even in his own ears.

“I’ve missed you”

“I’m sure it’s only been a few days”

Hyungwon saw the pout that appeared on Wonho’s mouth “Still” he said, his pout only getting bigger. And Hyungwon would be dammed if he resisted to that pout.

Before he actually registered it, he was already kissing the other boy, his hands going up to rest against his hips under the jacket, the same familiar feeling from before overflowing him. Wonho brought hi other hand up and gripped the hair at the back of his head, bringing his head closer while at the same time he brought their bodies impossibly close together.

Hyungwon felt hotter than when they had kissed before. Sure, Wonho was naked then but having Wonho wearing his underwear, with his jacked open so he could feel his bare torso was sexier than anything he had experienced before.

Hyungwon felt the wet slide of Wonho’s tongue against his, his hot body touching him, and he would be lying if he said it didn’t affect him, if he said that he didn’t feel the arousal that was coiling up inside him. Wonho felt it too, if the way he moaned when he gripped his hips harder to move him against him was anything to go by. Hyungwon started making them move towards the couch, he was not going up the stairs like this.

He moved them so that he could sit down on the couch, Wonho straddling his hips while still kissing him. They calmed down a bit when they settled, but not stopping from kissing any moment. They separated to catch their breaths and looked at each other in the eyes. All of their emotions flowing between them, the desire, the love.

Hyungwon felt overwhelmed, just the day before he didn’t remember the other boy but now he was here, with the most beautiful boy he had ever seen, feeling all the love he was giving him and his heart felt it was about to burst. Wonho started moving his hips against Hyungwon’s while he kissed his neck. And Hyungwon let himself get lost in the feeling, he didn’t know how much time they had been like this, he was letting out a groan when the doorbell rang.

He whipped his head towards the door, annoyed, but Wonho’s mouth still on his neck, not caring about it distracted him from it. It was only when the ringing continued, more insistent, that he let out an annoyed groan while gently pushing Wonho away from him. “for fuck’s sake” he whispered, his eyes closed.

Hyungwon felt Wonho get up, just as annoyed as him, and head to the door. He heard the door opening followed by a surprised gasp and a thud, when he turned he saw two bodies on the floor, Wonho under another boy that looked suspiciously like Minhyuk.

“Oh god how could you leave like that?” Minhyuk cried out. Hyungwon groaned, what wrong did he do in his previous life to deserve a friend like this? Wonho looked at him surprised and confused. Hyungwon approached them shoving Minhyuk off his boyfriend and helping Wonho up while he looked at the white-haired boy standing up on his own.

“How did you know about him?” Hyungwon asked suspiciously.

“You left me confused, in my pyjamas, and with a notebook in my hands, did you really think that I wasn’t going to read it?” Minhyuk asked “also, Kihyun came (don’t ask how) and told me that you were both idiots and that I should probably come get you. I was already going to do it so I just left, he told me he would ‘take care of everything there’ whatever that means”

Minhyuk looked between Hyungwon and Wonho, clearly expecting them to say something but neither of them did, not for a while. They were too surprised to even speak. Minhyuk eyed them carefully for the first time since he arrived, he took in their dishevelled hair, still slightly flushed faces, Wonho still just in Hyungwon’s underwear that did nothing to hide his situation. Minhyuk looked at Hyungwon, meeting his eyes and making his blush, and lifted his eyebrow. Hyungwon knew what that meant ‘ _Did I interrupt something?’_  At last, Wonho broke the silence.

“How did he know you would come get me and I would agree to go with you?”

Minhyuk shrugged. “Maybe he knows you better than you think”

They stayed in silence again, Wonho had a slight pout on his face, he didn’t know if it was from being interrupted or his friend knowing him better than himself and being ahead of him.

“Anyway, we won’t find out unless we ask him” Hyungwon said, before turning to Wonho “What do you want to do?”

Wonho looked at him with a small smirk. Hyungwon was amazed at how fast his facial expressions were changing.

“You know what I want to do”

“Wonho”

“Fine” he gave up, his tone exasperated “We’ll go back, I guess”

They left Minhyuk in the living room while they went up to get some clothes. If they took more time than what they really needed Minhyuk didn’t say anything about it. He just smiled at Hyungwon, the other telling him to shut up before getting into the car and telling the others to do the same.

 

When they arrived at Minhyuk’s apartment everyone was already there, sitting around the coffee table with food and drinks between them, everyone turned to them when they arrived, and Changkyun told Wonho what he did was mean and he apologized. He assumed Kihyun had told them everything but he was proved wrong when Kihyun started talking when they had already finished eating and Changkyun and Jooheon had gone home.

“You owe me a bit one, I took care of everything while you were being all lovey-dovey with Hyungwon. Making that many people remember is not an easy thing”

“Making them remember?” Wonho asked, confused.

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t bring back my memories?” Hyungwon asked, just as confused.

“I thought I couldn’t” They both looked at Kihyun who was looking at them back with his mouth slightly open, his expression something between incredulously and offence.

“You didn’t know they could get their memories back and _still_ you erased them? Oh my god you are even more stupid than I thought”

“Hey! I’m not that stupid”

“You thought you had to kiss he person on the lips for it to work” Kihyun deadpanned, Wonho blushed.

“It’s what stories say”

“You kissed me on the lips” Shownu interrupted, looking at Kihyun. He looked back at him, as if to challenge him to say anything about it.

“I did” he said. They held their gazes for a while, nobody really wanted to interrupt them, everyone always knew that there was something between them and Wonho smiled to himself, happy that his friends was at last accepting his own feelings. “and it still didn’t work” Kihyun added, they broke the eye contact and Wonho looked at him surprised. “I think he has some kind of mermaid ancestor that’s why it didn’t work” he explained Wonho, who just nodded in understanding,

“Wait, is that how you knew that I was going to get Wonho?” Hyungwon asked, Wonho looked at him curiously and then at Kihyun.

“Yeah, we kept in contact and he was to tell me the moment you were going to dee each other again so I could come back as soon as I could. Minhyuk told Shownu the moment you told him you were leaving” Everyone nodded, now understanding everything a bit more.

“So… you can do more…” Minhyuk said, making everyone look at him. He waved his hand in the air “magical things?” he asked. Kihyun laughed.

“Of course, and Wonho would know how to do them if he hadn’t been so concerned about a certain human when we were younger instead of learning”

Both Hyungwon and Wonho blushed at that.

“Then…” Wonho started “You can give him back his memories? The ones I took from him when we were younger too?” he seemed hesitant about it, almost afraid of the answer. Hyungwon looked at Kihyun hopefully.

“Maybe” Kihyun answered, concern in his face “I won’t lie to you and say that I can, maybe I’ll need you  but we can try”

Hyungwon and Wonho looked at each other, Hyungwon had hope in his eyes, at last he was going to be able to remember everything, no more blank spots on his memory, he was going to remember everything. He smiled at Wonho, and the other boy gave him a small smile back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this is confusing but I really couldn't figure out another way of handling this... also.. me? hinting at sexy times? more likely than you think (it was so awkward writing it bc I was in class)
> 
> Just to rant a bit the other day I went to the Japan Weekend in Madrid and there were a lot of young kpop stans and while I'm happy it's kind of becoming more known here in Spain it was so cringy... I was suffering
> 
> I'm also thinking about ending this soon because I don't want to stretch this too much and it to become too weird but we'll see... I have another two fics in mind already, a Hyungwonho one that I started writing a while ago called of fake boyfriends and true love and a yoonmin one... either way, if anyone want to give me ideas in what to write you are all welcome!
> 
> Sorry for the long note and as always thank you all for the support with kudos and comments ^^ and I remind all of you that I have the same name in Tumblr and you are all welcome to hit me up <3


	16. Chapter 16

Kihyun leaned back, his breath ragged, they had been going at it for hours now. Minhyuk had been first, as it had been easier to make him remember. Then it had been Hyungwon’s turn.

Hyungwon wanted to say no, he didn’t feel any different, he still didn’t remember anything. Then it hit him. Wonho as a merman in the cave, singing. Wonho playing with his phone laughing at the videos. Wonho sitting excitedly next to him in the car with an excited smile. Wonho running to dogs and letting them lick all of his face. Wonho lying on his bed, his hair tousled and a soft smile on his lips. Wonho as a kid, his face covered in ice cream. Kid Wonho pulling him to the water between giggles. Wonho crying when he had to leave at the end of the summer.

Wonho.

He felt himself trying to catch his breath, overwhelmed with the memories and the emotions they brought with them. He looked up and locked eyes with the boy that was taking up all his brain, he was looking at him with doubt on his eyes, nervously. The moment their eyes met each other’s Wonho knew he remembered and it only took one half look at Kihyun to make him leave them alone. Good thing they were already sitting on Hyungwon’s bed.

Wonho waited for the door to close before he said anything.

“How do you feel?” he softly asked.

“Overwhelmed” Hyungwon admitted. Wonho bit his lip.

“Are you angry because I kept all of that to myself?” he carefully said.

“I honestly only want to kiss you right now. It’s like all the feelings I’ve had for you all these years have come all at the same time”

Wonho smiled shyly at that, looking to his lap where he was playing with his fingers. He let out a surprised gasp when he felt arms around him, immediately answering to the hug.

“Never leave me again” Hyungwon whispered against his shoulder “I don’t think I would be able to take it”

They stayed like that. Hugging each other, talking. Hyungwon still was a bit angry at what Wonho had done, he couldn’t help it, but they talked it out. Wonho promised that he would talk to him the next time they had a problem. Hyungwon laughed at him for thinking that he would prefer some model over himself, he didn’t care what the rest of the world said.

By dinner time they had everything settled down. They had dinner with Minhyuk and Shownu, and Minhyuk was more than happy to fill him in what he had missed in the time he had been away.

“And you are back just in time for Shownu’s final match in two days! I invited Jeonghan to come I’m so excited to introduce him to all of you” Minhyuk excitedly said. Hyungwon raised his eyebrows.

“You really talked to him?”

“Well, if you had let me talk the other day I would have told you that I already have his number. We’ve been talking for a while and well… it kind of happened. Sorry for not telling you”

Wonho gasped “That’s so good! I’m so happy” he hugged Minhyuk next to him and they both broke into a fit of giggles.

They were at the door of the pool, waiting for Minhyuk to make his appearance with his boyfriend. They heard Minhyuk calling for them before they saw them. When they were finally in front of them Wonho gaped at them, not saying anything, not even a greeting. The other’s looked at him curiously.

“Are you a merman?” he blurted out. Jeonghan let out a nervous laugh and looked at him.

“What?”

“There are no humans that pretty. You can tell us, we are too.” He answered. Jeonghan looked at him confused and Hyungwon hit him with his elbow.

“Hey, I thought _I_ was the most perfect human ever” he said.

“Yeah, the most perfect _human”_ Wonho answered. Hyungwon sighed.

“Don’t mind him, he is just weird. Let’s get going before they start without us”

They headed inside, Jeonghan was still looking weirdly at them but he was dating _Minhyuk_ he couldn’t be that weirded out about it.

They cheered until they felt like their throats would give out and Wonho had to convince Kihyun not to make the water drown the other contestants so Shownu won. Of course, he did even without help and they all took photos with him and the trophy after congratulating him.

They decided to go eat afterwards and when it was already dark, and Jeonghan had left, they returned to the pool, now bare of proud parents and loud friends, nervous contestants and confident ones. It felt almost magical, the calm only disrupted by their voices and the sound af their feet against the floor.

Wonho and Kihyun looked at each other in a silent conversation and, without uttering a word, both of them started stripping with smiles in their faces. Shownu was going to tell them something, but Hyungwon’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. Shownu looked confused at Hyungwon, but he only mouthed a wait before pointing ahead with his chin. Shownu turned to the two boys again, now totally naked and not caring a single bit about it, and saw them grin at each other one last time before they rand to the pool and jumped in.

A few seconds passed without anything coming out of the water and when it did, it was not a human limb, it was two fish tails, _mermaid tails._ One blue and one pink. Hyungwon looked at Shownu, his mouth wide open in shock, wonder in his eyes.

“First time seeing them like that?” Hyungwon asked. Shownu nodded, still in shock. A splash made them look at the pool again. Minhyuk had jumped into the water, stark naked. “MINHYUK PUT YOUR UNDERWEAR BACK ON” Hyungwon shouted.

“NEVER” the boy shouted back before he started splashing Wonho with water and laughing.

“C’mon guys get in too” Wonho shouted.

Hyungwon gave a few pats to Shownu’s back before he too started stripping and got into the water (leaving his underwear on, he wasn’t an exhibitionist thank you very much)

Once he was inside the water Wonho swam towards him and put his arms on Hyungwon’s shoulders, Hyungwon’s hands going immediately to his waist, right where the skin met the scales. Both had soft smiles on their faces.

“It’s been long” Wonho said. Hyungwon lifted an eyebrow “Since you last swam with me, it’s been long”

“If I remember correctly” Hyungwon said, he loved the feeling of really remembering “I swam with you in this very pool not that long ago”

“Still, you used to do it every day”

“When summer comes again I will”

Wonho smiled, and leaned forward to steal a kiss from his boyfriend.

“I will be waiting for it” he was going to kiss him again when someone splashed them with water.

“Stop that, we are gonna race!” Jooheon said.

Wonho grinned, he loved challenges, even when the humans were probably for him, at least Kihyun could be a match. As expected, he won every single race. Shownu getting frustrated when he couldn’t compare his speed to that of the mermen.

“Don’t feel bad, Shownu, they were made for swimming” Minhyuk tried to console him.

Kihyun swam to him and offered him to do some ‘magic tricks’, as Minhyuk called them, so he could be faster in water and hold his breath longer. Shownu refused. He didn’t find it fair.

“Minhyuk, your boyfriend…” Wonho said when they were already getting dressed, ready to go home.

“He is not a merman Wonho”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Dude, you tried to talk to him via thoughts and he didn’t even flinch, he is human” Kihyun intervened. Wonho pouted.

“I didn’t know there were humans that beautiful”

“Are you trying to make me jealous?” Hyungwon asked.

“Are you getting jealous?” Wonho asked with a smirk.

“You have a model boyfriend and you are here, talking about another guy” Hyungwon shook his head. Wonho went to him and hugged his waist, looking up at him.

“Ooooh but you know I only love you” Hyungwon heard gagging noises from Jooheon’s and Changkyun’s direction but he paid them no attention, opting to put a finger under Wonho’s chin to bring him closer to him and kiss him softly on the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about no posting this earlier but I had no inspiration for this fic. If there are people that have given up on this I understand but I am not, I don't know when I will write but I will, sooner or later, I promise you all that I'll finish this.   
> To give myself a bit of self promo, while I should have been writing this I wrote a Yoonmin oneshot fic and it's pretty cute so go read it if you like BTS.
> 
> (Can you all tell how much I love Jeonghan?)


	17. Showki

Kihyun was finishing cleaning everything in the kitchen. Everyone had had a little get together that night in their apartment and for some reason it was his turn to clean up everything. He sighed while he scrubbed a plate, those idiots couldn’t even help him.

He felt someone move to stand next to him, and he glanced to see Shownu right next to him.

“It’s okay now, I’m practically done” Kihyun said. Shownu didn’t listen and grabbed the plate Kihyun had in his hands, pushing his softly with is body to move him aside.

Kihyun didn’t protest, taking off his gloves and sitting in the counter, letting Shownu do the work. They were in silence, something common between them as Shownu wasn’t on the talking side and Kihyun wasn’t exactly Minhyuk, always in need to be saying something. So it was a surprise when it was Shownu who started a conversation.

“I think we need to talk” he said simply. Kihyun tilted his head.

“What about?”

“Us”

“Us?” Kihyun furrowed his brow, what did he mean? Shownu left what he was doing, and with a glance Kihyun saw that he was already finished. The older boy turned to look at Kihyun directly, and Kihyun felt a shiver go down his back at the intense gaze, but he did not let it show. He never let anything he felt show when it came to Shownu.

“You kissed me” Shownu said. His tone was calm, but it hid a hint of frustration, maybe annoyance inside.

“It was for-“

“Don’t say it was for the spell, or whatever it is, because you say it wasn’t necessary” Kihyun pursed his lips, he had been caught. “You know, I heard Wonho talk about how you only fall in love once in your life” Kihyun furrowed his brow, confused at the sudden change of topic. “My mother used to say the same before she died. At first I believed it was the same for everyone, when I learned that it wasn’t, I just thought that she just had a very romantic way of seeing the world, now after what you said the other day… about me probably having some mermaid blood, I’m not that sure”

He had gotten closer while walking and Kihyun was torn between running away or getting closer. For now, he was trapped on top of the counter. He was stunned, he didn’t think he had ever heard Shownu talk that much.

“What do you mean” Kihyun said, almost a whisper, the only other sound in the room where the faint voices that came from the living room where their friends were, so his voice was heard loud and clear.

“I mean that I’ve fallen for you and I don’t think it’s in the human way” Shownu answered.

Kihyun felt his breath catching in his throat because not in a million years he would have thought that he would find someone to love and be loved in return in the same way outside the water. He had thought he was doomed the moment he felt himself falling for the human. Trying to reject it, not accepting it. It was so risky loving a human, they could leave you any moment, the fact that Wonho was lucky didn’t change anything to him.

And now he was here, confessing to him, telling him that he probably couldn’t ever love anyone else besides him, that his mother had told him in some kind of way. And now, at last, Kihyun could see hope.

“Are you sure about that?”

“I… I’ve liked other people before, but it never felt like this, so… final even when I’m not even with you in that way”

“Like you are complete?”

“Yes” They looked at each other in the eyes “You felt it too?” he sounded almost scared of the answer.

“Why don’t you give me back my kiss and we see?” he asked, cheekily. And what was he doing, he was not like this, he should play hard to get, deny everything, run. But he was tired of it, he wanted to be with the boy in front of him, he wanted to listen to his heart and not his head for once.

Shownu got closer, and Kihyun let him. He didn’t even get off the counter, he just opened his legs to make room for Shownu to get even closer and leaned forward.

Shownu closed the distance between their faces, the brush of their lips hesitant at first, like they were afraid. It was Kihyun who made the kiss deeper, not afraid anymore, because even when he had never done anything like this before, something inside him, his instinct, knew that this was it. This was real and right.

He felt Shownu smiling into the kiss, and he did too. In that moment it felt like they were the only two people in the world, but of course, they weren’t, and the rest of the world made itself know with Minhyuk’s loud gasping followed by his shouts, and their friends coming in to see what all the fuss was about. Kihyun felt like he should be annoyed, but he really couldn’t bring himself to it, so he just tried to ignore them, with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is too short and I can't write Kihyun's and Shownu's personalities but I just had to idk and...
> 
> THEY WON THEY FUCKING WON YESTERDAY I WAS SO SHOCKED I NEARLY CRIED I'M SO PROUD OF THEM I LOVE THEM SO MUCH THEY DESERVE THE WORLD


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry? hahah, I'm one and a half weeks away from finals and I am so fucking tired omg so here I am, procrastinating. Anyway, please leave a comment or something and maybe I'll get motivated to not take almost a month till I post the next chapter ^^

 

“And this is the living room” the lady that was showing them the flat said, gesturing around her. Hyungwon and Wonho nodded and looked at each other. They had decided to start seeing apartments a week ago. Kihyun couldn’t live with them eternally and Wonho couldn’t keep using Shownu’s and Minhyuk’s bathtub forever, a place just for them sounded like paradise. Hyungwon turned to the woman.

“Excuse me, but can we see the main bedroom’s bathroom?” he asked. None of the apartments they had seen for now had a bathtub, or enough room to put one or, if they did have one, it never was big enough for the both of them. The lady looked at them weirdly for a second before the smile returned to her face.

“Of course! If you follow me” They did, and she showed them the bedroom, fairly large, before she led them to the bathroom. It was big, with two sinks.

“It has a bathtub jacuzzi style, but you have a shower in the other room…”  She said it like it was an inconvenience, and form what they had gathered in their search for an apartment, for normal people it apparently was, everyone preferred a shower, much convenient if you wanted to take a quick shower before going to work. They weren’t looking for that.  They stopped listening to her. Looking at each other with big smiles on their faces. At last nice place with a decent bathroom.

“Hmmm excuse me but could you leave us alone for a moment?” Hyungwon asked again, not even turning to look at her. When he did look, she had her lips pursed, clearly thinking if it would be too risky to leave the two young men alone there.

“Of course, I’ll wait for you in the living room” she said, a forced smile, clearly fake, on her lips. She shot them a look before finally going that kind of dared them to do something inappropriate. The second she exited the room, Hyungwon closed the door behind her and turned to Wonho.

“C’mon, get it” he said. The merman didn’t have to be told twice, the next second he was already next to the bathtub but he waited for Hyungwon to get in before he did too and settled between his boyfriends legs.

“What do you think?” Hyungwon mumbled against Wonho’s hair. His arms were hugging the merman’s waist. Wonho made a small thinking noise before he answered.

“It’s comfortable, I like that you fin in too. And the apartment near Minhyuk’s kindergartner and it’s pretty nice”

“You have barely seen how the rest of the house is”

“I’ve seen enough” Hyungwon couldn’t see it but he just _knew_ the other one was pouting, just the thought brought a small laugh to his lips.

“Okaaay, I trust you. I actually like it too. The part that we’ve seen” he said. The bathtub really was comfortable, and he was tempted to just ditch the woman and stay there. He was tired of looking for a place to live, and this was close enough to his friends that it wouldn’t really be difficult or long to go from one place to another, but far enough that they wouldn’t be going every second either.

It wasn’t long till they were up and out again, Wonho was concerned about the woman all alone, bless his considerate soul. She looked rather suspicious when they came out after so long, but her face changed completely when they told her that they had decided they wanted the place. Telling them about what a good choice they were making and how they weren’t going to regret it. They settled in moving in the next week. Kihyun was to keep Hyungwon’s old apartment, having found a job of his own.

Moving apartments turned out to be a lot more tiring than they thought but with the help of their friends it wasn’t all that difficult.

 

Wonho was lying on their new bed, waiting for Hyungwon to go with him so they could cuddle and fall asleep already. It wasn’t that late, still too early to go to bed seeing as neither of them had work the next day and could sleep in, but both were tired and just wanted to enjoy each other’s company.

When Hyungwon came back he ha hid phone in his hand, saying a final goodnight before he hanged up with a sigh.

“Who was it?” Wonho asked curiously while the other lifted the sheet to slip inside, instantly curling against Wonho, who started to pet his head.

“My mother, just letting her know the new address in case she needs something”

Wonho hummed in answer, without energy anymore to answer to him properly. He did kiss the top of Hyungwon’s head before he fell asleep.

 

The next morning an annoying sound woke Hyungwon up. He groaned in complaint, it wasn’t either of their alarms, he knew it. The sound continued, and a more conscious part of his brain recognised it as their doorbell. He groaned again and moved to get up, untangling Wonho from around him. He smiled softly when Wonho curled on himself at the loss of warmth. Hyungwon didn’t try to not wake him up, he didn’t understand how the other was still asleep, but if he was awake because one of their stupid friends was ringing their door at ass in the morning then Wonho deserved to wake up too.

He didn’t bother putting anything on top of his pyjamas, walking to the door barefoot while he tried to rub the sleep away from his eyes.

“I’m coming! Stop with the goddamn sound!” he practically yelled. He opened the door expecting to see one of his dumb friends, but the person that awaited him was nowhere near that. “Mum” Hyungwon said surprised.

“Son” she answered, mocking him.

“What are you doing here?”

“Am I not allowed to visit my son in his new apartment when he moves without telling me?” she asks.

“Well, it would have been good to have a warning”

“Do you have anything to hide from your mother?” she asked, Hyungwon hummed, not knowing what to answer “Aren’t you going to invite me in?” she said, pushing Hyungwon aside to come in herself.

She walked all the way to the living room, looking around with an appreciative hum.

“It’s better than the one you were in before I’ll give you-“ she stopped mid sentence, because in that moment, a very sleepy Wonho appeared on the door of their room, and Hyungwon would coo at how cute he looked, rubbing his eyes with his hands covered with the sleeves of his hoodie and his legs full on display from his shorts if it wasn’t for the look on his mother’s face.

“Why aren’t you in bed with me?” Wonho asked sleepily, he finally opened his eyes, and looked surprised at the woman in front of him “Ummm, hi” he said the look on his eyes turning curious when he turned to look at Hyungwon.

Hyungwon walked to stand next to Wonho and face his mother.

“So… this is Wonho he is my… boyfriend. Wonho, this is my mother” He said carefully. The change in both their faces was immediate, his mother’s eyes opening wide in surprise while Wonho’s face instantly lighted up with a smile.

“It’s so nice to meet you” Wonho said “Hyungwon has talked a lot about you, now I understand where he got his good looks”

Hyungwon’s face was clearly flustered at the praise, but she shot Hyungwon a look that wasn’t very pleasant. More accusatory because he hadn’t told her about Wonho before.

“How long have you been dating?” she asked. Hyungwon tried to hide himself, because he knew his mother wouldn’t like the answer.

“Almost a year now” Wonho said with a smile. Hyungwon looked at his mother, who was pursing her lips, and he could almost hear her asking him why hadn’t he told her before, because this seemed serious.

“I’ll leave you two alone, as it seems like you weren’t planning on waking up, but wouldn’t it be nice to have dinner all together with your father, Hyungwon?” she asked, and Hyungwon knew he couldn’t say no.

“Of course” he answered with a forced smile “Would you like it here to see the apartment or would you prefer a restaurant?”

“Just here is fine” was her answer. She turned to go to the door, Hyungwon and Wonho following behind her. “It was nice meeting you” she said, looking one last time at them.

“It was nice meeting you too” Wonho answered with a smile.

They said their goodbyes before the door finally closed, and Hyungwon turned to hide his head on Wonho’s neck, his arms going around the boy’s waist while he groaned and the other boy laughed at him softly.

 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone still cares about this fic

Wonho stays still while Hyungwon finishes tying the knot of his tie. He has learned to do a lot of things in the nearly a year that he has been living as a human but tying a tie knot is not one of them.

“Are you sure this is necessary? It feels like it’s too much” Wonho says, and by the look Hyungwon shots him he decides that no, it’s probably not too much and that he should just shut up.

Just as Hyungwon turns away from him, Wonho starts tugging on the tie, it’s too uncomfortable, almost constricting him, he will never get used to wearing clothes so closed. Hyungwon glares at him again and Wonho lets it go, but seriously, his boyfriend should relax a bit. Wonho is sure this is not going to be so formal or bad as he thinks.

“Look….” Hyungwon starts, and Wonho turns to look at him “I know it’s not going to go bad, if I hadn’t come out all those years ago I guess it would be, but now they have it pretty much accepted but either way… This is a huge deal for me okay? They’ve never met any of my other boyfriends before and I want them to love you”

“She seemed very kind to me” Wonho said, he saw the worried look on his boyfriend’s eyes and sighed. “Okay, I understand this is very important and I’ll do my best. All the mums in the kindergartner love me anyway, I don’t think this will be too hard.”

“Well, you have my father to worry about too”

“Oh right. Well, it doesn’t matter if it’s a boy or a girl they will like me the same”

Hyungwon smiled, he hoped it was that easy. A part of him did tell him that it was that easy, maybe Wonho had some kind of mermaid thing that made everyone be instantly attracted to him. He gave him a last once over, maybe the tie really was a bit too much? After all, they are going to have dinner at home, not at a restaurant. But what if his father comes wearing a suit? Even if it’s from work it will make Hyungwon feel like they are underdressed if they are not wearing one too, and he really wants Wonho to impress his parents.

He didn’t really have time to voice his concerns or try to change their outfits as in that moment the doorbell rang. He looked at its direction anxiously and Wonho reached for his face, turning him to look at his eyes gently.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay, it’s not like something like this is going to separate us” he said gently.

“I know it’s just-“ he is interrupted by the doorbell ringing again. He doesn’t want to have his parents waiting at the door too much time so he gives Wonho a quick peck and heads to the door.

He opens it and greets his parents, silently congratulating himself when he sees his father dressed in a suit too. He lets his parents through and leads them to the living room, where Wonho is waiting with a smile on his face.

“Good evening! Nice to finally meet you” he says, shaking hands with Hyungwon’s father. Hyungwon walks to stand beside him.

“It’s nice seeing you dressed up, I though you would be dressed just like this morning” Hyungwon’s mother says when the introductions finish. Hyungwon feels himself getting red.

“I’m… sorry for that. We really weren’t expecting anyone” Hyungwon excuses them.

“Yeah, I’m sure” she answers with a smile.

After the first embarrassment and a quick tour of the house, they finally settle down to have dinner. Something simple, as neither of them really know how to properly cook, only simple meals, and some shell fish too, as Hyungwon’s mother has always loved it.

Hyungwon remembers the first time they had eaten something fish related. One of their friends had ordered it, a few weeks after Wonho had moved in with him, everyone already knowing his secret. Wonho had taken the sea food happily and eaten it while everyone looked at him in horror.

“You… you eat fish? Is it not like cannibalism?” Changkyun had exclaimed. Wonho looked at him confused, after they explained what that was he looked at them outraged.

“Is it cannibalism if you eat other mammals? Not right? What do you think I ate when I was in the sea? Seaweed? All my life?”

It had been rather funny because well, he had a point. He was also really offended at being called a fish.

“Do I look like a fucking fish to you? No, I’m incredible, hot and have magical powers.

They all had agreed with that, how could they not?

 

There wasn’t even time for an awkward silence to settle in the table, Hyungwon’s parents started interrogating Wonho immediately.

“So Wonho, do you study?” Mrs. Chae asked.

“Hmmm no, I’m actually working” Wonho answered.

“He is also older than me” Hyungwon added.

“What do you work in?” It was Hyungwon’s father who asked now.

“I take care of children” Wonho answered with a smile, as every time he talked about the kids, they really made him happy. “Our friend Minhyuk’s mum has a day-care and I teach kids there and play with them”

“Oh? So you like children then?” It was Mrs. Chae now again.

“Yes, I really love them”

“Any plans on having your own?”

“Mum!” Hyungwon cuts her, embarrassed at his mother’s question. She chuckles.

“Okay son, I’ll stop, but understand that I really want grandchildren”

“Oh! I want kids too, but Hyungwon doesn’t even want to get a cat” Wonho says.

“I still say that we are too young to think about that. I would really much prefer getting a fish” Hyungwon asks, and pointedly ignores the glare that Wonho shoots him.

“I’ll take that for the moment” his mother says “It’s good to know that one of you actually wants to give me grandchildren though” she adds smiling at Wonho, who smiles back at her. It helps Hyungwon relax knowing that Wonho has clicked with his mother, even if it’s for the wrong reason.

“Where did you meet?” Hyungwon’s father speaks again. Wonho answers before Hyungwon can say anything.

“Oh! That’s actually funny because we were friends when we were little and we met again last year” He explained. Hyungwon’s mother looked at them furrowing her brows.

“You were friends when you were kids? I don’t remember you”

“You don’t mum? I went with him to the beach every day in summer while at grandma’s and I met him again last summer when I returned there” He explains and Wonho nods. His mother still seems a bit weary, clearly confused at not knowing one of her son’s friends when he seems so important.

“So you just started dating then?” his father asks.

“Pretty much, yeah”

“And he moved here? With you?”

“Hmmm yeah” Hyungwon answered a bit sheepishly “He didn’t really have anywhere else to stay and I really wanted to be with him so… he just came with me”

“At first I was a bit embarrassed about Hyungwon paying for everything but then I started working and it was better” Wonho explains.

Hyungwon’s parents seem to be pleased with that and continue with their questions, now not that important, more curious about their lifestyle and every day. They also ask about their friends and Hyungwon’s mother seems very happy to know that Shownu is now dating Wonho’s friend and that Minhyuk has found himself ‘the prettiest boyfriend ever, no offense son’. The last breath of relieve that Hyungwon sighs is when his father finally warms up to Wonho when they engage in a conversation about fish, after Hyungwon’s father talks about how much he liked to go fishing when they went to the beach in summer.

Mrs. Chae congratulates them on the dinner when they finish, saying it’s much better than she expected as they are both young and her son has never been too good in that area. They sit on the couch to continue the conversation until Hyungwon’s father says that he is tired from working all day.

The boys walk them to the door to say their goodbyes, now with warm hugs.

“I’m glad you have found such a good man Hyungwon, I wasn’t very sure at first but… I don’t think you could have found a better person to spend your life with” Mrs. Chae says while her husband nods.

Hyungwon feels tears going to his eyes, he doesn’t want to get emotional but fuck, his parents approving and loving Wonho really is important for him, one of the most important things in his life because yes, he is going to spend his life with him, he is not someone he is going to date and then break-up with, he is the one he is going to grow old with, the one he is going to love for the rest of his life.

“Wonho” Hyungwon’s father adds “Take care of my son, and love him a lot”

Wonho smiles “I will, I’ll love him all my life”

 

 

Wonho groans when he finally is able to take off his suit and slip on his hoodie.

“That was _so_ uncomfortable. Will I need to wear one of those again? Because If I do I want one bigger so that it doesn’t feel so-“ he stops mid-sentence, noticing Hyungwon still on his suit, sitting on the bed while staring ahead. He carefully goes to him and sits on his lap as best as he can and starts loosening Hyungwon’s tie. “see? I told you everything was going to be just alright” he says, Hyungwon sighs and puts an arm around Wonho’s waist.

“I’m so relieved that it went well” he mumbles, leaning his forehead on Wonho’s shoulder, who just giggles softly.

“Your mother is an amazing woman” Wonho says, Hyungwon scoffs.

“You have a lot in common right?”

“She wants kids, I want kids too” he pauses a bit, thoughtfully “Do you think our kids will be merpeople too?”

“We can’t have kids Wonho”

“But she said-“

“I bet she meant adopting them, human anatomy doesn’t work like that, neither of us have uterus”

“Oh” Wonho said, a bit thrown off, but he immediately recovers “That’s good too then” another pause. “that’s why we can have sex without worries too, right?” he asks. Hyungwon groans, letting himself fall back into bed, Wonho falling on top of him. Hyungwon can almost hear Minhyuk’s laughing at him.

Wonho laughs “that’s good too” he repeats, his laugh turning into a mischievous smile. He takes off Hyungwon’s tie and starts unbuttoning his shirt, leaving a kiss in every part of skin that is revealed, starting on his neck “no worries” he whispers before finally kissing Hyungwon, full on his lips.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm like sooo sorry for not writing anything for this in so long and feel really really guilty about it. I know this is not much, and I'll just probably write one more chapter as a closing one so yeah, wait for it if you are interested. (It's been so long since I last wrote for this that I kind of forgot how are their personalities so sorry for that)
> 
> This is in memory of my happiness, it passed away the moment Monsta X announced their concert date in Madrid the week I have the last exams to save my year OTL
> 
> Also the Hyungwonho date in Paris omg that was so gay
> 
> Follow me on twitter with the same name if you want but it's mostly BTS and if you like them read my Yoonmin fics ^^


	20. Chapter 20

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Hyungwon asks, again, and Wonho has long started questioning if it is a good idea himself. Not what he is about to do, he really wants to do that, but telling Hyungwon beforehand.

“For the last time, yes, I really want to do this. Maybe I should have followed Minhyuk’s advice and do it with him without telling you first” Wonho says contemplating.

“No! You can’t do that. I want to be the one helping you” Hyungwon protests.

“Then stop whining and actually help me, I really don’t know how this works” Wonho says, Hyungwon sighs and grabs a towel before walking towards Wonho and wrapping it around his shoulders.

“Here, so you don’t get dirty” Hyungwon says, he grabs the box Wonho had bought earlier at the shop, putting on a face while he opens it and mixes everything inside with water.

He takes a brush that was inside and uses it to mix it better before he approaches Wonho again.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks.

“Goddamnit Hyungwon! Yes I am! Now get to it!”

Hyungwon sighs one more time before he starts brushing Wonho's hair.

 

Hyungwon waits nervously on the couch, his gaze fixed on the TV but his thoughts completely on the sound of the hair dryer that Wonho is using on the bathroom. He had had to take a bath, and the water had stopped a long time ago, Hyungwon domestic know why he’s taking so long. The sound stops and Hyungwon perks up at it, sitting on the edge of the couch nervously.

“Okay” he hears Wonho’s voice from inside the bathroom “I think I’m ready”

“Then come out already I’m dying I over here”

“You have to close your eyes” Wonho says, and Hyungwon sighs.

“Okay” he closes them, it doesn’t matter how crazy his boyfriend is he loves him.

“Do you have them closed?”

 “Yeah”

He hears the door of the bathroom opening and then some steps hitting the floor getting closer.

“You can open them now”

Hyungwon doesn't waste a single second before he does and really, he can’t contain the woah that scapes his lips, his mouth agape. There is Wonho, but not the Wonho he is used to see, a black haired one, and damn Hyungwon has to admit that he looks damn good, kind of older and tougher. He gives Wonho a once over and okay, it’s not only a black haired Wonho but a very naked one.

“Where are your clothes?” he asks dumbly “I thought you had learned already” Wonho sighs.

“Is that what you are going to say?” he asks, but he still has a cocky expression on his face.

“Okay you look fucking amazing sorry for doubting you” Hyungwon says, a smile grows on Wonho’s face “but where are your clothes?” Wonho starts walking towards him slowly.

“I didn’t think it was necessary bothering with them”

“Are you with that aga-“

“Not when you were going to take them off me either way the moment you saw me” Wonho says and maybe he has a point because the things Hyungwon is thinking about doing right now don’t involve Wonho wearing clothes. He hates when Wonho is right.

He doesn’t hate when Wonho finishes walking towards him and sits on his lap, straddling his waist. His hands go up to hold Wonho’s waist and looks up at the other letting out a small moan when Wonho sits down on his lap fully, grinding their hips together.

“I guess you really like the hair huh?” Wonho asks cheekily, bringing his head down so it’s at the same level as Hyungwon’s, their foreheads together, their breaths mingling together.

“I fucking love it” Hyungwon answers before finally closing the distance between them in a heated kiss, his hands going down to Wonho’s ass making him moan into their kiss.

Hyungwon guesses he’s not going to sleep much tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

Hyungwon scrolls up his time line on twitter, hoping for it to have at least something interesting. He thinks about changing to Instagram but he closed the app no more than 1 minute ago before he opened Twitter. He is bored as hell and ran out of things to do hours ago, the book he had brought not as interesting as he first thought. He thinks about just going home but discards the thought quickly. He wants to be here when Wonho comes out of the water.

It’s summer again, one year after he met Wonho again, one year before everything happened, before he fell hopelessly in love with the merman. Now Wonho has gone back to see his family again after all that time and to swim for a bit, free with a tail again and Hyungwon is waiting for him in the cave like the whipped and stupid man he is. He has been here all day but still won’t leave. If he came this far then he is going to stay to the end.

After two more minutes of all his feeds not giving him anything new he decides to leave his phone and just swim a bit, he has yet to get into the water, Wonho had dived in immediately and swam away so he didn’t have the opportunity to swim with him. Hyungwon takes off his shirt, he is wearing his swimming trunks as trousers so his just stays like that. He leaves his shirt and flip flops with Wonho’s and walks towards the water it’s cold, but nothing completely unbearable, he takes two steps backwards and then runs, jumping right in the water. From his experience it’s best to just get with it and have the cold shock all at once.

Hyungwon doesn’t know how long he spends swimming, he just goes around for a bit and then dives in, exploring a bit of the underwater world. Time seems to pass differently while on the water and before he knows it the sun is already getting close to the sea, it shouldn’t be long till Wonho comes back now.

He feels a tug on his leg just as he is thinking that and suddenly he is surrounded by water trying to go up to get some air. When he does, coughing to get the water out of his lungs he hears it, in the middle of the quietness of the cave, a beautiful laugh, one that he would recognise everything. Wonho.

“HEY! You almost drowned me!” he turns around to the source of the voice only to see Wonho much closer than he first thought.

“Don’t be so dramatic, I would have saved you” he says between laughs. Hyungwon splashes him with water acting offended but ends up laughing too “hey, Kihyun told me that humans can breathe underwater like us if we are having physical contact” Hyungwon squints at Wonho, he doesn’t believe one word of what Kihyun says but Wonho seems pretty excited about it “c’mon Wonie, maybe I can take you exploring with me” Hyungwon sighs, okay that seems like a cool idea and Kihyun does know more about what mermaids can do, he was the one to restore his memories after all.

“Okay we can try it”

Wonho smiles and lets out an excited yelp, swimming towards Hyungwon and grabbing his hand, who wants Hyungwon to lie to, he would do anything Wonho asked from him. He looks down, looking at how Wonho’s tail looks next to his legs, it always feels surreal, even after one year of being together Hyungwon can’t completely believe that his boyfriend is a real merman.

Wonho takes Hyungwon’s hand and disappears below the water, Hyungwon following him right ahead. When he opens his eyes underwater he sees Wonho is all his mermaid glory, his still black hair floating around his head.

“ _C’mon, try breathing”_ Wonho says. Yes, that is something else Kihyun had known how to do, including Hyungwon in the weird mental link they had, it must have something to do with the mate thing they have too because Minhyuk and Changkyun were completely devastated when they found out they couldn’t be included in it.

Hyungwon counts to three before he tries breathing through his mouth only for it to be filled with water immediately, making him choke and definitely note breath. He lets go of Wonho’s hand and swims as best as he can towards the surface, gripping a rock to let his head on top of it, coughing all the water that has entered his lungs. He can almost hear Kihyun laughing at him.

Wonho’s hand is soon on his back, giving him soft taps to help him cough all the water with a worried face.

“I am NOT trusting that midget again” Hyungwon says once he recovers. Wonho actually scoffs at that.

“C’mon! you have teased him a lot too, he nearly got into a lot of problems because you told him humans do things that are not true!” Hyungwon smirks, yes that is very true and he is not one bit regretful.

“How is him though?” Hyungwon asks, Kihyun had left to go to the sea a few days ago and had not come up yet.

“He is fine, he misses Shownu so I don’t think it will be very long till he comes back up again but he missed being inside a lot” Wonho explains, Hyungwon frowns.

“Don’t you miss being inside too? You can stay a few days if you want, I wouldn’t mind you know?”

Wonho circles his arms around Hyungwon’s torso, hugging him from behind and resting his forehead between his shoulder blades.

“I would miss sleeping with you more” he mumbles, it makes Hyungwon blush and smile, he would really miss him too.

They get out of the water eventually, after watching the sunset over the sea together for the first time in too long. Everything is simple, them walking home holding hands, their fingers intertwined. The way they made dinner together and ate while watching a film, the teasing while they changed into their pyjamas and finally lied down on bed, looking at each other. Everything was simple and domestic and Hyungwon couldn’t ask for more. He takes Wonho’s hand in his, playing with the ring on his finger with a smile. Wonho knows what he is thinking. One day it will be for real.

“I don’t think I could imagine something that would make me happier that being here with you now” Hyungwon whispers. Wonho smirks.

“I thought I was the cheesy one in the relationship” he laughs when Hyungwon playfully hits him and pulls him closer to peck on the lips.

“I _know_ that nothing would make me happier than being here with you right now” Wonho whispers before kissing Hyungwon’s lips softly once more.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so first of all thank you all so much for still waiting for this (if you were) and being with me all this time, I'm very sorry for neglecting this fic around the end of it but I really had no inspiration for it. I'm really sorry that this last chapter is a bit shitty I wanted to make it special and good but I obviously couldn't... I hope you forgive me for it. I hope you enjoyed this fic and know that even though I'm currently writing for the BTS fandom I still love Monsta X with all my heart and maybe in the future I'll write for them again. Follow me on twitter or tumblr with the same name and never doubt to talk to me about anything, I'll welcome it with open arms.
> 
> I'm going to the Monsta X concert in Madrid!! yay!! asique monbebes españolas si hay alguna aqui, ya sabeis donde encontrarme ;)


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